The Month Of Celebrations
by Atlantic Jewel
Summary: In the month of December, Emma and the Autobots get news of more All-Spark Fragments in exciting and exotic places, and before that is Aquilla and Audrey's first Christmas! Emma will discover more about herself, and there's bound to be chaos and adventure and romance! Never before seen stories from Grey Matter - Silver Lining!
1. A Very Autobot Christmas

TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED

* * *

The Grey Matter - Silver Lining sub-story (between chapters twenty-six and twenty-seven)

* * *

"At the same time as Megatron reawakening, a girl falls to earth and Sari manages to convince her Father to let the new girl - Emma - become her nanny. Emma doesn't talk much, and she's ESPECIALLY not saying she's from a different world! But, when the All-Spark is shattered, her origins are questioned, and her importance becomes key to the tides of the war...PxOCxJ"

* * *

The Month Of Celebrations

"In the month of December, Emma and the Autobots get news of more All-Spark Fragments in exciting and exotic places, and before that is Aquilla and Audrey's first Christmas! Emma will discover more about herself, and there's bound to be chaos and adventure and romance! Never before seen stories from Grey Matter - Silver Lining!"

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

A Very Autobot Christmas

* * *

The doctors didn't know how or why it happened, but Emma made a swift and rapid recovery. They wanted her to stay and do more tests, but it got to the point where she was threatening to rip out the IV and discharge herself, especially since they wouldn't let her see her daughters. After that, they decided that Ratchet's med-bay was the best place for her.

Everybody greeted Emma happily when she arrived back at the base (with the exception of a certain blue and orange bot) and Aquilla and Audrey latched onto their Mother and wouldn't let her go. Bumblebee had to bribe them with donuts.

Prowl and Jazz stayed by Emma's side almost all the time, and nobody said anything about it. Jazz and Prowl had confessed their love for her, and now she was not going to be able to get rid of them (not that she wanted_ to!)._

She slept in the same room as them - they were all three of them worried about Succubus and (mostly) Incubus. Emma didn't mind one bit. She felt loved like this for the first time in her life, and she intended to try and explore it as much as possible.

Sentinel was, thankfully, oblivious to anything going on between Emma and the two cyber-ninja, and they planned to _keep_ it that way...

Emma began to wonder about something, though.

"Say, Jazz..." Emma was sitting on the couch watching Aquilla and Audrey watch their favourite TV show. The Jet-Twins were watching with them, and all four of them were getting excited about Tuxedo Top-Hat kissing the heroine in a red; white and blue dress (Emma wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing). She had her computer open on her lap, but she wasn't really focusing on the screen. It was a cold wintry day.

Ratchet was in his med-bay. He was _still_ in a bad mood because the twins (both sets) along with Miko and Sari had pranked him by placing hundreds of rubber duckies around the base, and moving them (the ducks). They had also added to them, and stated that the ducks were multiplying.

Optimus was on monitor duty.

Bumblebee and Bulkhead were ice-skating with Sari; Miko and Flora.

Sentinel was glowering at the colourful presents brought home from the hospital (but, his Glower Power was no match for the Flower Power!).

And, Prowl and Jazz were, of course, sitting on the couch with Emma, on either side of her, as she teased Scuz-Bag with a ribbon. He was acting just like a kitten, and trying to bat at the ribbon with his claws. "I've been wondering, Jazz...aren't you lot supposed to be headed back to Cybertron?" Emma looked up at him.

Jazz grinned at her. "You trying to get rid of me, Ems?"

She shook her head. "No, it's not that, it's just..." She was suddenly cut off by the sounds of a call coming through on the monitor. "_That_..." She groaned, as the call turned out to be from Cybertron.

"Ah, it is seeming that communications are okie-for-dokie." Jetfire said, as he and Jetstorm got up, leaving the girls singing along to the ending credits of their favourite show.

Everybody else crowded in front of the monitor.

"This is Cliffjumper, reporting from...what the slag?" The red bot that looked like Bumblebee and Wasp stared at the assortment of robots and holoforms.

Optimus groaned, as Sentinel smirked, and those that were in their holoforms returned to their robot-modes. Jazz lifted Emma up on his shoulder, so that she was level with them.

Cliffjumper began to speak again. "Approximately fifty mega cycles ago, Ultra Magnus was attacked by the Decepticon traitor, Shockwave."

Of course, Emma had been expecting this, but she still gasped. She liked Ultra Magnus, despite all appearances, and the thought of him being attacked by Shockwave was suddenly an overpowering sense of disbelief.

Everybody else was just as shocked as she was.

"Is Ultra Magnus...?" Optimus couldn't finish his sentence.

"In recovery." Cliffjumper sounded grim. "But Shockwave got away with his Magnus Hammer. And did a number on our communications network." He leaned forwards. "As you can imagine, we're in serious flux here."

Emma jumped down from Jazz's shoulder, and began walking away from the monitor.

"Ems?" Jazz called after her, but she didn't stop. He went to walk after her, but Cliffjumper had one more thing to say, and it wasn't good.

Jazz and the Jet-Twins stared at Cliffjumper in shock.

Only Sentinel seemed unaffected. "Well, it's about time!"

* * *

Aquilla and Audrey hurried after their Mother, and found her sitting in Prowl's room at the foot of the tree, her knees drawn up to her chest.

The twins were dressed in full winter gear (a pink wool-lined long coat over black stockings for Audrey, and a purple wool-lined long coat over white stockings for Aquilla), but they still managed to make their way over to where their Mother was.

"Mummy?" Aquilla asked, sitting down on Emma's left. Her locket swung out as she leaned against her Mother's arm and looked up at her, worriedly...

Audrey sat down on the right, and touched her Mother's forearm. "Are you okay?" She asked, quietly.

Emma nodded, not wanting to cry in front of her kids. "Yes, sweetsparks...Mummy's just got a lot to handle right now, that's all..."

"Is everybody going to be okay?" Aquilla wanted to know. Her dark orange eyes were wide. "Everybody's so worried..."

Emma swallowed, wondering what to say and, just then, Prowl and Jazz entered the room. They assumed their holoforms, and approached the three females.

Emma looked up at Jazz, and knew, she just _knew_, what he was about to say. She didn't want to hear it, so she said it for him.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" She whispered.

Jazz could only nod, and Emma closed her eyes. A tear dripped down her face, followed by another and then another. She couldn't stop them.

Arms enveloped her, and she couldn't tell whose they were, just that she seemed to be involved in a five-way-hug at that moment, and she felt warmer than she ever had before, but sad at the same time. Why? Why did Jazz _always_ have to leave her like this?

Optimus and Ratchet were watching from the doorway.

"Jeez, they look _almost_ like a real family, there." Ratchet muttered.

"Trust me, Ratchet, there's no _almost_ about it." Optimus sighed. Why must so many sparks be broken in life? Optimus thought of Elita and, though he didn't know it, Sentinel was thinking of her, too.

* * *

Blackarachnia, all alone and in a strange place, knew the feeling...she stared up at the moon, for she was on the other side of the world, and shivered, despite the heat. Life really sucked, sometimes...

The Elite Guard was leaving that very night, and Optimus; Ratchet; Prowl; Emma and her twins came to see them off.

Emma watched with some suspicion as her twins hugged the Jet-Twins - Aquilla hugged Jetstorm, and Audrey hugged Jetfire. Aquilla and Audrey were handling this better than their Mother. Maybe that was because Bulkhead had promised to get the Space-Bridge finished, so that they could all go to Cybertron soon. Aquilla and Audrey didn't mind waiting.

As the Jet-Twins hurried on-board the ship to get things started up, Emma held onto her twins' hands, and watched as Optimus briefly clasped Sentinel's shoulder. There was a lot of significance in that one small gesture.

As Sentinel boarded the ship (whose engines powered to life almost as soon as he did), Jazz nodded to Optimus, and smiled at Ratchet, before he and Prowl shook hands. There was as much significance with _that_ as there was with Optimus and Sentinel's interaction. There was acknowledgement and respect but, with the two cyber-ninja, there was something else. A warning, from Jazz to Prowl...

Jazz then glanced at Emma, but she stubbornly looked down at the ground, not wanting to speak, so that she would avoid another avalanche of emotions.

Jazz smiled, albeit a little bit sadly, and said: "Stay sharp, my cool cat." He then turned and began to walk onto the ship, although he was walking rather too slowly for Sentinel's liking.

"Hurry up!" The commander complained. "Come on, Jazz, when I'm chiding you, that means hurry up!"

Jazz didn't increase his pace - if anything, he slowed down a bit, as he walked up the ramp. He paused at the top, as the ramp began to close up, slowly...

Emma closed her eyes, grimacing. She bit her lip. She was consciously aware of her daughters on either side of her, and of Prowl standing close by. This was it. She wouldn't see Jazz for...well, who knows how long! She sure didn't! And, what was worse, she was about to make sure their last moments together for awhile were going to be of her being ridiculously stubborn!

Emma suddenly snapped open her eyes, let go of her daughters' hands, and ran forwards a bit, summoning up her powers which came from her chest and hit Jazz square in the back, forcing him to assume his holoform.

"_You said to me we were going to be together!_" Emma shouted, not caring how high-pitched or upset she sounded. "_I need you with me, and you and I both know it! Even before, you always put your Elite Guard status and duties over me! I got so bored, not being allowed to leave the dojo, and it was all your fault! Why are you always leaving me, Jazz_?!" She kind of wailed. "_I need you_!" Tears were in her eyes, making them sparkly, and her fists were clenched.

Jazz saw all of this when he turned around, and there was an unusual look on his face - kind of a smug smirk. "Well, why didn't ya say so, sweetspark?" Somehow, when _he_ said it, it sounded so different from when anybody _else_ said it. He ran, and jumped from the slowly-closing ramp.

He practically sprinted up to Emma, grabbed her by the shoulders, and kissed her full on the mouth, surprising everybody.

Optimus and Ratchet were speechless, their optics just about bugging out of their heads.

Prowl just sighed.

Sentinel was practically glitching. "Jazz get up here _now_! That's an order! An _or-der_!"

Jazz and Emma looked up at him, with similar expressions.

"He sounds like my Mum." Emma muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Hmm, if it's an _order_, then I know what _I_ want." Jazz whispered in Emma's ear. "Care to satisfy?"

Emma grinned. He was just playing, and she knew it. She was so happy - Jazz was staying! She suddenly didn't care if it messed up part of the story-line - heck, she'd practically destroyed the entire franchise! To the others, she said: "Take the girls home, they can have a cup of energon-milk before bed at eight!" The girls were getting to stay up a little bit later, tonight, but Emma planned to stay up _very_ late!

Jazz went from holoform to robot-mode to vehicle-mode in about three seconds flat, and soon he and Emma were cruising through the streets, heading towards their favourite nightclub with a Katy Perry song playing at almost full-volume.

* * *

The twins were in bed and asleep soon enough, although it taken three stories from Prowl to get them to finally doze off, after all of the excitement of that night.

The twins fell asleep sleepily singing, like the kittens from _The Aristocats_, only they were singing a different tune.

"You're from a whole other world..." Aquilla muttered.

"A different dimension..." Audrey added.

Prowl rolled his eyes as he turned on the night-light (a flower-fairies one from Fuchsia) and pulled the door to. He walked out into the main room, where the rest of his team was - Bumblebee was playing video games with Bulkhead; and Optimus and Ratchet were going over some data. Scuz-Bag was perched very cutely on the keyboard of Emma's computer, which had gone into screen-saver-mode.

The Autobots all looked up as Prowl entered.

"What?" He asked, stopping.

Optimus and Ratchet exchanged a glance, wondering how to approach this.

Bumblebee, naturally, just decided to plow straight ahead and ask the difficult question, which was: "Prowl, aren't you jealous about what's going on between Emma and Jazz?"

Prowl cringed. True, Bumblebee and the others didn't know what had happened in Emma's all-too-real dream, or the fact that she was a Half-Vampire now. They wouldn't know about the duty of protection and care that Prowl and Jazz had both promised Emma, one which bonded their sparks and forced them to work together.

Still, promise or _not...was_ Prowl jealous of Jazz? Of _course_ he was! What mech _wouldn't_ be?! He respected Jazz, yes, and valued him as a comrade and as an Autobot cyber-ninja. However, that didn't mean that Prowl had to like it when Emma and Jazz spent a lot of time together...or when Jazz kissed Emma like that, for that matter. Prowl couldn't help but feel jealous; _he_ wanted to be the centre of Emma's universe, and the one that she needed. He would never do anything to take Jazz out of the picture, but that didn't take the other feelings away now, did it?

Something told him that Jazz felt the same way about him...

They would never stop vying for Emma's attention, and they would never stop competing for her affection. It made them rivals, but it also bonded them.

There was no way for Prowl to explain this to anybody right now, except for maybe Optimus.

But, instead of answering Bumblebee's question, Prowl went over to the couch and sat down, carefully shifting Scuz-Bag, and picking up Emma's computer. He of course knew her password (it was **ANGEL**) and so typed it in, drawing up the page that they had been looking at earlier on.

It was about Vampires - they were trying to research as much as they could, and Emma was seriously contemplating contacting either Lockdown or Soundwave for advice. Prowl and Jazz weren't too keen on that.

As Prowl stared at the computer screen, it suddenly flashed twice, and then turned black. Just as Prowl was wondering what had gone wrong, blue and green lines began to appear, snaking over the computer screen and forming shapes.

Bumblebee was peering at the screen from behind Prowl. "Whoa...better take it to Boss-Bot?" He suggested suddenly. Prowl jumped. Bumblebee grinned. "Time to switch to decaf, Prowl."

* * *

Emma and Jazz arrived back at the base at eleven-thirty.

Everybody was still up, and waiting for them.

"And _what_ time do you call _this_?" Ratchet asked, grumpily.

"Aww, come on, Doc-Bot, Cinderella got until midnight!" Emma reminded him. She smiled at Jazz, and then danced happily over to Prowl, giving him a big hug. "Though, I'm _hardly_ a Princess!" She giggled.

Prowl glanced at her. "Emma...have you been drinking?"

She nodded. "Not a lot, though." She told him, snuggling up to him.

Prowl glanced at Jazz. Jazz held up three fingers and mouthed the word 'glasses'. Prowl nodded.

_Prowl?_ Emma thought to him. _We even ran into Soundwave - he's the DJ at EvƎ now!_ She showed Prowl a few select images.

_Wait, what was that one?_ Prowl asked, picking out one in particular.

_Soundwave punched the guy that tried to touch me when we were leaving the club._ Emma explained.

The image was of a man, whose hand had been reaching for a particular part of Emma's body, before she turned and gasped, and then Soundwave's fist connected with the man's face.

_How come Jazz didn't do it?_ Prowl wanted to know, making a mental note to follow Soundwave's example, should the opportunity ever present itself and he met this guy.

_He was stopping me from going all Vampire and ripping the guy's throat out._ Emma frowned. _He would have deserved it, though..._ She added, as an afterthought. _Maybe..._

Prowl silently agreed with her, although he didn't say it because he knew she was a bit upset about it. She _still_ didn't like her Vampire side. She sighed, and then she leaned around him, and noticed her computer. "What's going on?" She asked, out-loud.

"Glad you asked." Optimus seemed a bit amused by all of this, but was successfully managing to keep a stern and businesslike manner. Emma didn't come home tipsy very often (in fact, this was the first time, ever!) - if she did, then it would have been a different story! "Your computer began picking up All-Spark Fragment signals, so we decided to hook it up to the main computer terminal and try to trace them better."

"And?" Emma asked, as Jazz came up to the table.

"And, we've found that there are over a hundred Fragments that have all seemed to converge in three places!" Ratchet said, gruffly, crossing his arms.

"Where?" Emma and Jazz asked in unison.

Prowl felt a twinge of annoyance at this, but since Emma was still hanging onto him, he didn't mind so much...

Emma then looked at the monitor, which showed a huge map of the world. Her eyes lit up. "Wait...is that...?!"

Emma was tingling with excitement - more All-Spark Fragments, and...?

* * *

It was. The All-Spark Fragments seemed to have chosen these places, if indeed they had a choice, with their rightful owner in mind. Perhaps they _knew_, and wanted her to have a little treat. Ratchet agreed to stay in Detroit and monitor things, which left the rest of them to plan what they were going to do, and how they were going to do it. They decided to save time, by splitting into groups and going to two separate places, before meeting up at the third destination.

However, there was one tiny, insignificant little problem.

"Umm, how are we getting there?" Emma wanted to know, the next night, after the twins had gone to bed.

Bumblebee and Bulkhead were watching TV, and Emma was sitting at the table with the others, trying to make plans. She was about to discover something.

"We'll be flying _Royal Dutch Airlines_ from the Detroit Metro Wayne County Airport," Optimus told her, as he was typing away at the computer. "To arrive in..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Emma held up her hands. "Back up! You mean _fly_? As in, fly _commercial_?!" She leaned over Optimus' shoulder to have a look at the flight map. "Look at..._why_ do they have to go up to fly over the Arctic Ocean, I mean why can't they just fly straight across the North Pacific Ocean instead?!" She waved her arms about.

Prowl and Jazz were staring at their spark-partner in fascination. She sounded frantic. They could sense the panic within her, but couldn't do anything to quell it until they knew for sure what was the matter with her.

"_Nineteen hours_?!" Emma fairly shrieked.

"And eight minutes." Optimus added. "What's the matter?"

Emma sighed, and put her hands down on the table. "Look, bots, there are but _two_ things that _truly_ frighten me in this world. One is the centipede, and the other," she pointed to the TV screen. "Is _that_."

They all turned, to watch a jumbo-jet slam into the ground as part of some movie about Air Force One getting hijacked by the Russians (so generic).

"That's _not_ going to happen." Optimus and the two cyber-ninjas said in unison.

"And, if it _does_," Ratchet added. "It's not going to do _you_ much damage - Transformers don't damage that much from something so trivial." He glared at Emma.

"Okay, so what about the humans onboard the plane?" She challenged him.

"We'll send their families sympathy cards." Ratchet replied.

"Awwww..." Emma groaned.

Optimus gave Ratchet a Look.

"Emma, if worst really _does_ come to worse," Prowl said calmly. "Do you _really_ think Jazz and I would let anything bad happen to the plane?"

"That's right, cool cat," Jazz added. "That's what Processor-Over-Matter is for, ya dig?"

"Maybe..." Emma sighed. She envisioned the two cyber-ninja levitating the plane, and felt better. "It's just..." She looked up, smiling a little bit. She was still scared but Jazz and Prowl sensed that she was thinking about something _else_. "I was kind of hoping to take the others along, too...you know, Miko and Flora and Sari. I mean, since Isaac's paying for the passports and getting them speed-ran through security and all, and Flora needs a distraction from what happened with Wasp..."

"What about the twins?" Prowl wanted to know. "Do you want to take them with us?"

Ratchet had a look on his face that was saying: 'please take them!'. He still hadn't gotten over the rubber duckie incident...

Emma, however, ignored it. Her hands were suddenly clasped in front of her, and she had starry, starry eyes. "Awwww..." She gasped, a smile on her face.

Prowl smiled, too. "Emma, could it be that you want them to have a similar holiday to the ones _you_ had overseas as a child?"

"_Yes_..."

"And," Jazz grinned. "Is it _also_ possible that you ain't gonna fill em' in on the sitch until we're _at_ the airport?"

"_Yes_..."

The two cyber-ninja exchanged a glance, and then smiled. Crisis averted...

* * *

"If we're gonna be overseas in a hot place for the festive season, shouldn't we have a proper Christmas before we leave?" Jazz made the mistake of saying a few days later.

Emma gave him a Look, her hands on her hips as she glared at him. "_Excuse me_?"

Jazz looked surprised. "What'd I say?"

Prowl decided to intervene. "Emma's Australian, and Christmas falls in the first month of summer for them. Hot weather _is_ a real Christmas for her." He was secretly happy to know something about Emma that Jazz did not, and that Jazz had (indadvertedly) insulted Emma, so now Prowl was making her feel better! (The way the world works in Prowl's mind...).

Jazz didn't miss a beat. "S'cool, Prowl - I only meant that, 'cause the twins were born here, they might want a snowy Christmas." He sounded cool.

Prowl glared at Jazz.

Jazz shrugged.

Emma tried not to groan.

_Just keep smiling, just keep smiling..._ All three of them were thinking this and, at that point, all three of them suddenly heard that. They had to laugh - it was just too classic.

"It's okay," Emma put a hand on Jazz's arm. They were sitting by the monitor, having been placed on monitor duty by Optimus. To both of the cyber-ninja, she said: "That sounds like a good idea, though..._I've_ never had a white Christmas before (unless you count sand) and I missed out on last Christmas..."

"What?" Jazz interrupted. "Why?"

"I was in a coma after being chased by the Decepticons and falling off a cliff." Emma explained. "I got to see snow, but not the Christmas." She shrugged. "I was out for a few weeks."

A brief look of anger flashed across Jazz's blue visor, before it was replaced by his usual cool look. "Well, if we do the whole celebration on December fifteenth, it'll be a first white Christmas for all three of the special ladies, dig?"

Prowl and Emma stared at him.

Jazz grinned, taking their silence as a yes. "Yeah...we'll rock out in style, the way the humans do it...I could get Sari and Miko and Flora to help me plan this shindig..."

Emma and Prowl glanced at each other.

"Gotta get jivin' and get this show on the road!" Jazz was off and running - literally.

Emma and Prowl watched him go, and then looked at each other again.

"Mistletoe!" They heard Sari yell randomly, from somewhere on base.

"What's this mistletoe thing, Sari?" Jazz wanted to know.

Emma's eyes widened. This was going to be a _very_ interesting Christmas...

* * *

The day before "Christmas", Emma was helping decorate the living room at Sumdac Tower - Aquilla and Audrey were out with Victoria and Sai, to make it a surprise.

Bumblebee, Sari, Miko, Bulkhead, Flora, Jazz and Prowl were also decorating.

Prowl hung some paper cranes he had folded up by the window. Jazz glanced at them, smiled, and then shook his head with an: "Uh-uh." He proudly displayed the paper cranes with _moving wings_ he had suspended near the light, which was casting lights around the room.

Prowl gaped slightly, and then sighed.

Sari was humming as she worked to string some popcorn on the tree (which Emma had never done personally, and quite frankly she had no desire to string it without eating it). Emma smiled, recognizing the tune, and continued to smile until Sari began to sing.

"Deck the halls with kerosene, falalalalalalalala. Light a match and throw it in, falalalalalalalala!" Miko joined in. "Watch the school burn down the ashes! Falalalalalalalala!" Emma had dropped the decorations she'd been putting up by this stage, and Prowl had dived in a saved them with a jingle of bells. "Now you know how to..."

"_Where_ did you learn that?!" Emma cried, interrupting them.

"Flora." Sari and Miko said in unison.

Emma raised an eyebrow.

Flora chose that moment to make an appearance, carrying a tray of hot-chocolate so Emma couldn't really do anything about the song. Plus, everyone was wearing Christmas-y clothes - Flora had a red dress on with a reindeer broach, Sari was wearing a cream-coloured dress with a Christmas hat (Bumblebee also had one), Scuz-Bag had a red ribbon around his neck and Bulkhead had green tinsel round his neck. It was hard to feel annoyed at this time of the year (plus, Emma secretly liked that song - doubly blow up her old high-school!).

Bumblebee suddenly came in, along with a fir tree that had Optimus' legs.

"We're back!" Bumblebee cried.

"Yes, we certainly are." The tree said in Optimus' voice, and it turned out to _be_ Optimus, carrying the Christmas tree. He sounded like he was struggling.

Sari was thrilled. "You got the tree!" She exclaimed, abandoning her drink on the coffee table.

"We had to go to three different lots!" Bumblebee held up three fingers. "They're almost all sold out!"

"Oh, don't worry, it's not like I need help or anything!" Optimus complained.

"Hey, Ratchet, is that you?" Bumblebee asked sarcastically.

"I _heard_ that!" Ratchet smartly slapped Bumblebee upside the head. "Prime, put that thing down by the fireplace."

Optimus obeyed.

The tree was kind of...scraggly.

"That's not a tree!" Miko complained. "That's just a weed, _wishing_ it was a tree!"

"Patience, Miko." Prowl approached the fir calmly.

"Prowl, what's with the butterfly swords?" Bumblebee wanted to know.

"Just...trimming the tree." Prowl moved with deadly ninja skill and precision.

The tree was _sparkling_.

The others immediately set upon it with ornaments. Isaac sat on the couch and held the star, smiling at his daughter's antics. She may have grown up overnight (literally!) but she was still like a kid at Christmas time!

"Hey, Daddy!" Sari turned to her Father, a big smile on her face. "Let's put the star on the tree the way we always did, remember?"

Isaac looked surprised, but got up and walked over to Sari. He handed her the star.

"Can you do it?" Sari questioned. She was suddenly having second thoughts.

Isaac stepped onto a chair at the base of the tree, and looked at Sari. He took a deep breath, and then, somehow, picked her up from the waist, displaying a sort of strange strength. Sari, expertly, positioned the stair on the tree, running her hands over the gold surface fondly.

"It's beautiful." She said proudly.

"Great job, Sari!" Miko cheered.

"It is very festive, maybe even more so than last year." Prowl appraised.

"_I'll_...take your word for that." Emma smiled. "Good show, kiddo." She told Sari.

"Uh, don't mind me..." Isaac was shaking. "Not at all..."

Sari gasped. "Okay, okay, put me down now. I know I'm not a kid anymore..." She said, as her Father sat her down on the ground. She smiled up at him. "Merry Christmas, Daddy."

* * *

That evening, the twins were showing off their new velvet dresses - Audrey's was a dark maroon, and Aquilla's was deep green. Sari had put on a CD of Christmas carols, and almost everybody was in the living room.

There was a small kitchen just down the hall from the living room, and it was here that Victoria, Fuchsia, Flora, Sari, Mama Fuyano, Sakura, Zakuro, Aiko, Kerry and Miko were cooking. Well, Sari was learning how to cook, and loving it. Fuchsia taught her how to boil cauliflower and broccoli. There were also roast potatoes and mashed potatoes, beans and peas, pumpkin and corn, turkey and ham. There was also gravy and white sauce - it was a feast!

Emma poked her head into the kitchen, looking sheepish. "Umm...should I...do you want me to...help?"

"NO!" Sari yelled, turning and brandishing a fork.

Emma jumped back. "Umm...okay..." She looked down. "If you don't want..."

"It's okay, we got it." Miko assured her, from where she was peeling potatoes. Next to her, Aiko was coating them in flour and, further down the line, Zakuro transferred them to the hot oil.

"We're alright." Fuchsia told Emma kindly.

Emma nodded, and walked away. Victoria watched her go, and then looked at Sari. "Sari...?"

"Emma can't cook." Sari shook her head. "Trust me, I know...but...do you think we should have let her help?"

"YES!" Aiko and Sakura cried.

"She's probably upset..." Zakuro added, looking ashamed. "You know how sensitive she can be..."

"You're burning that!" Fuchsia cried suddenly, and Zakuro gasped, immediately attending to her potatoes.

* * *

Emma trudged down the hallway, and nearly walked into Bulkhead.

"Oh, sorry!" They said in unison.

They sighed.

"What's up?" Bulkhead asked.

"They wouldn't let me help cook." Emma's shoulders sagged. "You?"

"They wouldn't let me help decorate." Bulkhead replied. He looked sad.

Emma fidgeted. "You know...there must be _something_ we can do...something nobody else can...something..."

"Artistic?" Bulkhead guessed.

Emma nodded, and then both of them had an idea.

"Place cards!"

* * *

Emma and Bulkhead were crouched by the fireplace, working on their place cards. Presently, Aquilla and Audrey came over and asked what they were doing and, upon finding out, wanted to help, so there were now the four of them working on place cards. Whenever somebody would come along to find out what they were doing, one of the artists would glare until they moved away.

For awhile, all that could be heard from the fireplace was: "Pass the glitter, please." Also: "That's a really beautiful design." Or: "Are you sure that's a reindeer?" And: "It's an echidna."

"Oh."

Once the place cards were finished, the four artists sat back and admired their work. They had had a lot of fun, coming up with different designs and colours for everybody, and the twins had gone a little bit crazy with the glitter and glue-on sparkles. The cards still looked good though.

"Let's place the cards boy-girl-boy-girl." Emma suggested. "There'll only be a few double-ups..."

"Okay, but why?" Bulkhead wanted to know, as he set down Optimus' place card (which was blue and red and looked slightly digitized except for the abundance of glitter on there) at the head of the table. At Emma's prompting, Audrey ran to place Isaac's at the other end.

"Well," Emma explained, setting down Ratchet's red and white place card. "My year seven graduation dinner had the same setting..." She remmebered something. "But, ironically, they'd seated me next to my enemy, Andre Vasse...luckily, I saw this, _and_ took note of the pattern, so by the time dinner rolled around and the teachers were telling everyone to switch back, they didn't notice my change because I stuck with the pattern but switched my card with another girl's...pointless story?"

"Pretty much." Bulkhead nodded, but grinned.

* * *

Miko and Flora bustled in with cutlery, but stopped when they saw the place cards.

"Oh..." Flora understood. "I see...okay, Miko, come back with me..." She nudged the Japanese girl.

"But, what about these?" Miko held up her stack of plates.

Flora looked around, and spotted Prowl and Jazz tending to the fire. She whistled, and about six people/bots looked at them. Flora made eye-contact with the cyber ninjas, who came over, and the girls gave them all the cutlery before hurrying back to the kitchens.

Prowl and Jazz exchanged a glance, before going over to the table, which had a _white_ table cloth (risky!). The plates were white with green rims, and Prowl and Jazz placed them at each place along with the knives and forks and glasses.

Sari then appeared, and handed them some red napkins. After exchanging another glance, the two cyber ninja swiftly folded the napkins into cranes.

They both noticed that they were both sitting next to Emma (she had placed her card in between theirs). When Emma came to check on the table, she was a little shocked to find at least sixty napkins folded into cranes at her place, and she could guess who had folded them.

Prowl approached Emma, smiling slightly. "Emma, I..." He suddenly looked up. "Oh...isn't that...?"

Emma looked up, too, and saw a strange green plant with a red ribbon hovering above them.

"Mistletoe..." She said faintly, and then frowned, and walked up to the other end of the table to help Aquilla with the placing of the knife and fork at Aiko's place. ("Knife on the left, sweetspark, as Aiko's left-handed.")

She then walked back, and nearly bumped into Jazz. He grinned, and pointed up. "Check it out, cool cat - _more_ mistletoe."

"So I see." Emma rolled her eyes, and went further up the table to fix up a non-existent crease in the table cloth.

Prowl was waiting for her, and so was the mistletoe. "More mistletoe..." Prowl sounded amused. "I _believe_ there is a certain human custom to this...?"

"Well, we're not human, Prowler." Emma patted his arm, and then walked back the other way, towards Jazz.

Prowl followed her, and so did the mistletoe.

Emma was now caught between the two of them. "Look, it's following you, cool cat." Jazz grinned. "It's a sign..."

Emma raised an eyebrow, and then looked at the mistletoe. Her gaze drifted along the rope attached to the mistletoe, and then a pulley.

Bumblebee, Sari, Miko, Flora and Bulkhead grinned, from where they were standing at the centre of it all.

"Hiya, Ems!" Bee grinned. "Whatcha got there?"

"Mistletoe?" Sari giggled. "You can't cook, but can you _kiss_?"

Emma stared at her, and then said: "Sari...is this your way of telling me something?"

Sari nodded. "Yeah...like...sorry for not letting you cook and all, but we also want to eat without getting food poisoning."

"_Sari_!" Emma rushed at her, and Sari yelped and ran.

Emma chased her around the living room with the mistletoe, threatening to make her kiss a certain Autobot...

* * *

Everybody was seated at the Christmas table. Most of them were practically drooling, what with the turkey and potatoes and gravy and all. But, before anybody could eat, Fuchsia insisted that they all say Grace. Fanzone agreed, as did Isaac, and so everybody clasped hands and listened as Fuchsia said a few well chosen words, which reminded Emma of her Nanny (her Dad's Mum, who said the Christmas Grace every year).

Fuchsia opened her blue eyes, and saw that everybody was salivating over their plates by this stage, so she sighed, and said: "Okay everybody...dig in."

And, everybody did so, with much enthusiasm, but Emma slipped out halfway through (after eating about six roast potatoes and three chicken wings in record time) and went to the kitchens.

Jazz and Prowl, sensing something was wrong, followed her, and peered into the kitchens as Emma took out a piece of paper from the pocket of her red dress, and began to read what was written on it. As she did, she danced around the kitchen, taking out bowls and various ingredients.

As she turned, she spotted Prowl and Jazz, and gasped. The piece of paper fluttered to the floor.

"Oh..." Emma looked embarrassed. "Guys...umm..."

They didn't even need to ask what she was doing. They knew. She wanted to cook something on Christmas, no matter what. She felt very strongly about this.

Aquilla poked her head into the kitchen, and so did Audrey.

"Mummy!" Aquilla called. "We'll help! We'll help you!"

She ran into the kitchens, followed at a slower pace by her sister.

"Yeah, we'll help." Audrey said, taking her Mother's hand.

Aquilla added: "As long as we get to eat it..."

Jazz had picked up the piece of paper. "_Pfefferniisse_?" He read out.

"German gingerbread cookies?" Prowl translated, eyeing the ingredients.

"_Gingerbread_!" The twins exclaimed.

Emma looked uncomfortable. "I...I kind of...wanted to...make them myself..." She admitted. "Because...I can..."

"We know." Prowl told her. "But, I believe that part of the Christmas tradition is helping others, so..."

Emma sighed. "Well..." She looked at Jazz and Prowl, and then at Aquilla and Audrey in matching red aprons. "I _guess_...but...I get to be the boss!" She declared suddenly.

"Mummy, you are _always_ the boss." Aquilla rolled her eyes.

"And _you_ are a glutton!" Emma retorted, and the others laughed.

* * *

"That was go-oo-ood!" Bumblebee leaned back in his chair, patting his very full stomach. "My compliments to the chefs!"

"Hear, hear!" Bulkhead agreed. "This red drink is good, too." He took a big sip from a goblet. "What is it, anyway?"

"Uh...Bulkhead?" Miko cringed. "That's red wine..."

Bulkhead looked shocked. "Oh...no wonder my head feels so funny..."

Miko shook her finger. "And, that's why excessive drinking is a no-no, kids."

"Hey, speaking of which, where _are_ the kids, anyway?" Flora looked around.

"Emma and Prowl and Jazz are missing, too..." Optimus noted, just as the doors to the room opened, and the delicious smell of gingerbread filled the air.

Everybody turned, as Aquilla and Audrey entered the room, holding big baskets of gingerbread cookies. The cookies were about palm-size, and were coated in a layer of white icing. They looked _delicious_.

Which was why everybody took one and began eating _before_ they asked who made them.

Everybody began exclaiming:

"Oh, wow!"

"Delicious!"

"These are great!"

"_Oishii_!"

"Can I have another?"

"Where'd they come from?"

"Yeah, who made them?"

Everybody looked at the twins.

Aquilla and Audrey exchanged a glance, and then smiled mischievously. "That's a S-E-C-R-E-T!"

Sari raised an eyebrow, as she slowly chewed her gingerbread cookie, and her gaze drifted over to the doorway.

Emma was leaning against the doorframe, her red dress practically white from flour, which was also practically covering her forearms, up to her elbows.

Sari nearly choked on her cookie but, when she looked again, Emma was gone.

_Must've imagined it._ Sari thought, uneasily. But, it didn't stop her from eating six more of those cookies!

* * *

"_Twas a couple of nights before Christmas, when all through the tower,_

_Not a creature was stirring, at this un-Primus-ly hour,_

_The automatic shield was set up around the perimeter with care,_

_In hopes that the Decepticons wouldn't be there!_"

Flora rolled her eyes. "Who tells a Christmas poem like _that_?"

Miko glared at her. "Well, I can tell one like that, it's my story!"

"You'll give the kids nightmares!" Flora responded.

Sari, who was leaning over the side of Audrey's bed, pointed out: "Yeah, well, they're asleep, so it doesn't matter."

"Oh."

Emma stepped into the room then, as the teenagers stepped out, and quickly kissed the twins' foreheads, whispering: "Merry Christmas." She then half-closed the door, and went back into the hallway.

Where was everybody?

A quick check of the floor she was on revealed that pretty much everybody had either fallen asleep, or was in their rooms/guest rooms. She checked on Scuz-Bag, and then knocked on Sari's door once to remind the girls to go to sleep, adding that Isaac, Mama Fuyano or Fanzone would be up next if they didn't! Everybody else was fairly tired. Bulkhead especially was sprawled out over the couch, practically dead to the world. He'd have a hard time with his hang-over tomorrow!

Emma smiled, and then made her way out onto the balcony, enjoying the feeling of cold air on her skin, and of the snow beneath her feet. A cool breeze billowed around her. She smiled, and then turned when she sensed somebody behind her.

Of course, it was Jazz and Prowl.

"You shouldn't be out here without a jacket." Prowl told her. "You'll catch a cold."

"You can only get a cold if germs are already present." Emma informed him.

"She's gotcha there, Prowl." Jazz grinned, and then held up the cloak he'd been carrying, which he held up and then draped around Emma's bare shoulders. "Here, just in case."

"Thanks, Jazz, I _was_ actually a bit cold." Emma admitted.

"Now, why didn't _I_ think of that?" Prowl muttered.

Emma sighed, and then her breath caught in her throat. "Wh-what was that?" She asked, quietly, and turned, staring up at something.

Prowl and Jazz also looked.

"Is that...?" Jazz stared.

"It _can't_ be..." Prowl looked shocked.

"I...I don't _believe_ my eyes..." Emma grabbed onto the railing of the balcony, and stared up in shock. She raised an eyebrow slightly. "_Soundwave_?" She whispered.

A giant red and black metallic bird pulled what looked like a really decked-out sleigh, and somebody wearing a red cloak sat in the driver's seat. His red eyes gleamed, but he raised a hand in a quick salute, before a second, smaller bird flew towards them, and perched on the rails above them.

They all looked up.

"What's it got there?" Emma asked. "Wait..." She looked closer. "Isn't that..._mistletoe_?"

"Mmhmm." The two cyber ninjas nodded, before leaning down and kissing her on either cheek, much to her embarrassment!

* * *

The next morning, the teenagers (along with Bumblebee) woke up at the un-Primus-ly hour of six AM. They crept into the twins' guest room and tried to wake them up.

Aquilla got up easily enough, but Audrey firmly clung to the rails of her bed, like the teenager in Disney's _Freaky Friday_.

Finally, Sari nodded to Miko, who whispered into Audrey's ear: "Don't you wanna open your presents?"

Audrey's deep orange eyes flew open, and she was up in a flash, and at the door before the others could blink.

She looked impatiently at them. "Come on!" She ordered.

Sari took charge. "Okay, I'll go wake up my Dad, Flora you wake up your parents." Flora nodded. "Kerry, Sakura, Aiko and Zakuro, you wake up Mama Fuyano."

The waitresses saluted, and Kerry hummed a sort of war-memorial tune.

"What about us?" Miko and Bumblebee wanted to know.

"You two wake up Optimus and Ratchet." Sari ordered them. "And, you two," she knelt down to the twins' level. "Wake up your Mummy and the cyber ninjas, okay?"

The twins nodded.

"Everybody meet back in the living room in five, okay?" Sari saluted. "Roll out!"

* * *

Emma opened her eyes slowly and, for a second, she wasn't sure where she was. Then, she focused, and found herself staring at a familiar blue ceiling. Oh, right, it was their pretend Christmas morning, and she was in her room at the Sumdac Tower.

Emma sighed, and was about to turn over, when she realised that she was not alone. On her left was Prowl, and on her right was Jazz.

_Oh my Primus!_ Emma's heart began to race. _Did I...?! No, I definitely did NOT...okay, calm down, it's okay...so what if you slept in the same bed...you used to sleep with them when they were in their robot forms all the time! No biggie!_

Emma gulped. It was still embarrassing! Especially since her head was resting on Prowl's right shoulder, and Jazz had her right hand held up against the side of his face. Emma gingerly took her hand back, and then carefully sat up. She did it slowly and carefully, to avoid the cyber ninjas from waking.

She sighed again.

The bedroom door suddenly slammed open, and the twins ran in, giggling.

"Wake up, wake up!" The yelled in unison. "It's _Christmas_!" They jumped onto the bed, and there was no way the cyber ninjas could sleep through that.

"M-Merry Christmas, you two!" Emma hugged the girls, who were jumping up and down like Miko on coffee, so this was a feat in itself.

"Presents! Presents!" The twins cheered, grabbing their Mother's hands. "Let's go!"

"Okay." Emma caved in, rolling her eyes. "Let's go open some presents!"

Jazz and Prowl watched as Emma got up, both of them slightly amused at their beloved's messy appearance in the morning. Almost as if reading their minds, Emma stopped, and said: "On second thoughts, why don't you two take Uncle Jazz and Uncle Prowl, because Mummy needs to do something first. Uncle Jazz has never had a Christmas." She added.

The twins' eyes widened, and they immediately shifted their attack, leaving Emma to run to the bathroom and freshen herself up. She then put on a robe, and followed her ears to the living room, where she was met with an incredible sight.

Emma stopped, wondering for a second if she was dreaming. She couldn't remember buying that many presents...unless...?

_Soundwave..._

Emma stood by the doorway, and watched the twins tear into a mountain of presents. Mountain? It was a mountain _range_. There were miles and miles of piles and piles of presents, some big and some small, and all beautifully wrapped with colourful paper and big bows.

Ratchet, somehow, had been conned into dressing up as Santa, and was handing out the presents as Miko called out names.

"Audrey!"

"A make-up kit! See it, Mummy?"

"I see, Audrey...I see..."

"Aquilla!"

"A painting kit - look, Bulkhead...Bulkhead?"

"Oww...my processor..." The artist groaned.

"Bulkhead?" Aquilla blinked.

"Leave him, Aquilla." Flora advised.

"Isaac!"

"A Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab Kit!"

"Aren't those illegal, Captain Fanzone?" Sakura wanted to know.

"Only in the 1950's." The police chief replied.

"Mama Fuyano!"

"A new sushi kit! Look at this knife!" She held it up, and it glittered in the light.

Everybody cringed.

"Bumblebee!"

"The Speed Racing handbook and starter pack kit!"

"What the Hell is with all the kits?!" Sari cried.

Miko hovered over a big present, which was pink with a yellow bow. "This one's for you, Sari!" She looked over at the red-head. "It's from your Dad." She added.

"It had better not be a kit." Sari frowned, and then opened up the big box. "Uh...okay..." She examined the orange scooter. "Thanks, Dad, but...I was kind of hoping for something with..._four_ wheels?"

"Why does she need four wheels when she's got you lot?" Flora whispered to Bumblebee, who shrugged.

"Who needs wheels?" Isaac added, and pressed a button on the scooter. It folded in, and transformed into a jet-pack, which settled onto Sari's back!

Everybody stared in amazement as Sari allowed the jet-pack to slip onto her shoulders snuggly, and then she was zooming around the room above all their heads.

"Bumblebee, I'll bet your jealous!" Sari called to him, above the gasps of amazement.

Bumblebee stared at her, his electric blue eyes shining, and then he said: "You bet I am! Hey, guys..."

"No!" Optimus stated.

"_Double_ no." Ratchet added, crossing his arms.

"Well, thanks a lot, Mr. Grumpy-Claws." Bumblebee pouted, as Sari flew around in the background, smiling and waving. She stopped long enough to thank her Father, before she and the other teenagers (plus Bumblebee) hurried outside to test the jet-pack out further.

"Sari, make sure you share!" Isaac reminded her. "And be careful!"

The twins sat on the floor surrounded by their presents and playing with about six different things (a scary-looking dragon plushie sat in a ride-in pink convertible, making roaring noises as the car's radio played _Gangnam Style_ until Ratchet pressed the off-switches).

Emma accepted a cup of coffee from Isaac, and drank it, until Prowl drew her attention to a stack of presents for _her_.

"For _me_?" Emma shook her head, putting her cup down and getting up. She went over to the pile of presents (not a very big pile, thank Primus) and picked up the first one. "To Emma, from Sari..." She read, and unwrapped the present. She stared at the kid's cookbook for a moment, before going over to the window and yelling something unrepeatable to Sari in Indian (a phrase that she'd learned from Sari).

Isaac gasped, but everybody else smiled, especially when Sari responded in kind.

Emma rolled her eyes and returned to her present unwrapping. Her other gifts were a bit kinder - a new pair of semi jet-powered rollerblades from Isaac, a box set of an anime she liked from her fellow workers, a new drawing tablet for her computer from Bulkhead, and a calendar of echidna pictures from Flora. That sort of thing.

Audrey approached her Mother, as she was unwrapping a book on first aid from a certain medi-bot. Audrey smiled a big red smile at Emma - her hands were also sticky from the candy cane she'd just eaten.

"That's going straight to your thighs, you know." Emma told her.

Audrey's smile grew, and she held up her hands for a hug.

"No way, Miss Sticky Fingers!" Emma laughed, ruffling the little girl's pink hair. "Why don't we go and wash up before breakfast, hmm?" She guided Audrey to the door.

Meanwhile, Aquilla was halfway through her own candy cane. Bulkhead had woken up by this stage, and the first thing he saw was the green-striped candy cane (Aquilla was sitting at the foot of the couch).

"_Oh_!" Bulkhead cried dramatically. "_Candy cane_! Here, let me help you to finish it!" He then gasped and cringed back, as Aquilla shoved the entire sweet into her mouth quickly. "Or...not..."

"You got that right, Bulky." Emma called over her shoulder. "Aquilla, come wash your hands, sweetspark."

"Nkkay Mmmy." Aquilla replied obediently.

* * *

"Mummy?" Audrey and Aquilla asked in unison, as they stood on little steps in the bathroom.

"Me first." Aquilla said stubbornly, although it sounded more like 'mm shst' because of the presence of the candy cane.

"No, me." Audrey replied, just as stubbornly.

"Mm!"

"No, me!"

Emma saved the conversation by grabbing a damp flannel and beginning to wipe Aquilla's face before the argument escalated. She had learned the hard way that her two girls had inherited stubbornness from _both_ sides of the family...

Audrey clasped her hands and said: "Mummy, if you're our Mommy, like Flora's Mummy is _her_ Mummy, and she has a Daddy, then who's _our_ Daddy?"

Emma cringed, and wished that she'd let Aquilla ask her question first, that is until Aquilla pushed the flannel away and said: "Yeah, and who's _your_ Mummy and Daddy?"

Emma looked around desperately, as she wiped Audrey's face, and then turned the tap on. As she helped the girls to wash their hands, she thought about her answer, but she didn't really have one.

Suddenly, she heard Sari calling to her: "Hey, Ems, come here a minute! Bring the twins!"

Emma and her kids exchanged a glance, before returning to the dining room, where everybody turned to look at them with big smiles (even Ratchet).

Prowl and Jazz were standing in the center of the living room, holding a beautifully wrapped red present tied with a big green and red bow.

Emma blushed, and would have frozen, but her twins had other ideas, and dragged her over to the two cyber ninja.

"Merry Christmas, babe." Jazz said, kissing Emma (much to her embarrassment, especially because Bumblebee and Miko went: "Ooh!"), as Prowl hugged the two kids.

Then, Jazz knelt down to hug the girls, and Prowl straightened up and looked Emma in the eye, placing a hand to her cheek and putting his forehead against hers. "Merry Christmas, Emma." He said quietly, before he and Jazz made Emma and the twins sit on the couch to open their present together.

Emma carefully undid the ribbons, placing them to the side. The twins then shredded the paper, flinging it aside to reveal a big, reddish-brown, leather-bound book.

"This looks like the kind of thing we do on the side of my old TAFE course." Emma said appreciatively, running a hand over the cover as she turned it over.

"Except this one was assembled specially by a master book-maker, in China!" Isaac spoke up.

Emma was about to answer him, when the gold script writing on the front of the cover caught her eye. Her breath hitched in her throat. "H-How?" She tried to say, but it came out sounding more like: "Hulk?"

"Your computer." Prowl said, matter-of-factly.

"Also, everything you've ever laid down for us, ya dig?" Jazz tapped the side of his head, grinning. "We got it pegged, babe."

"B-but..."

"Don't worry." Prowl told her. _We didn't write any of the terrible things. Only the good things, some sad, and a lot about your relatives, as well._

Emma nodded. "Oh...okay, then..."

"What does it say, Mummy?" Audrey wanted to know.

Emma swallowed, and said: "It...it says...Th-The Paradiso Family Book..."

"What's Paradiso?" Aquilla asked.

"That's my family." Emma replied. "_Our_ family..." She corrected herself.

The twins' eyes lit up, and they eagerly opened the first page, to reveal some words. They didn't even have to ask; Emma read: "To our beautiful Emma, and wonderful Aquilla and Audrey, with love on Christmas from Prowl and Jazz." She cleared her throat as she turned the page, to reveal a photo of all of them.

"Oh, and we raided your computer to get photos of all your family." Jazz said nonchalantly.

Emma cringed slightly, and then turned to the next page, to reveal a family tree. She took a deep breath, and began to read, out-loud. She missed her family, her parents and her sister, and her other relatives as well, as well as her two best friends and pets...however...

She had a new family here, as well, and coming to this world had been the best thing that had happened to her, as she always said!

She had new friends, young and old, human and alien and somewhat in-between! She had a new pet, and she had her former charge, though she was annoying she was still close enough to a best friend. She also had two beautiful daughters, and...two spark-partners. This was more than she ever could have asked for and had ever felt she deserved, but she planned to enjoy every second with them!

Merry Christmas!


	2. Autobot Air

TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED

* * *

The Grey Matter - Silver Lining sub-story (between chapters twenty-six and twenty-seven)

* * *

"At the same time as Megatron reawakening, a girl falls to earth and Sari manages to convince her Father to let the new girl - Emma - become her nanny. Emma doesn't talk much, and she's ESPECIALLY not saying she's from a different world! But, when the All-Spark is shattered, her origins are questioned, and her importance becomes key to the tides of the war...PxOCxJ"

* * *

The Month Of Celebrations

"In the month of December, Emma and the Autobots get news of more All-Spark Fragments in exciting and exotic places, and before that is Aquilla and Audrey's first Christmas! Emma will discover more about herself, and there's bound to be chaos and adventure and romance! Never before seen stories from Grey Matter - Silver Lining!"

* * *

CHAPTER TWO

Autobot Air

* * *

_I was kind of hoping to take the others along, too...you know, Miko and Flora and Sari._

* * *

When Miko heard the news, she had screamed, and jumped up and down. Flora and Sari had had similar reactions. They were all excited, despite the fact that they would be away for the real Christmas - it was the first time overseas for Sari, and both Miko and Flora loved to travel. They even _liked_ flying commercial, which confused Emma. But, _her_ behaviour confused _them_!

Emma was, however, the only one of them that had been to the places they needed to go, and so took them all shopping and brought a few things that they would need. She warned them all to pack _light_ - they would probably be doing enough shopping where they were going, as it was!

Despite her fears of flying, Emma couldn't help but feel excited, as they sat down the night before their trip to go over things one last time.

It was December nineteenth, and a week before Christmas. They had celebrated their early Christmas a few days ago, since it was the twins' first, and Sari was also trying to figure out how to get her new jet-pack past customs.

Optimus sat at the head of the table in the meetings room (which now sported tinsel and a tree). Bumblebee; Bulkhead; Sari and Miko sat at one side of the table, and Emma; Flora; Prowl and Jazz sat at the other side. Ratchet was at the other end of the table. Most of them were drinking either hot chocolate or egg-nog, and sporting very happy smiles.

"Okay," Optimus said. "So, our flight leaves at six o'clock tomorrow morning, so we have to be out at the airport at four o'clock. Which means..."

"We're probably not going to be sleeping tonight?" Miko suggested.

"Actually, it would be better if you _did_," Prowl informed her. "It's also best to stay awake as much as you _can_ on the flight over there, because of the time difference when traveling from west to east." He added, correctly interpreting what she was about to say next...

Miko stuck his tongue out at him. "Yeah, well, I've only travelled east to west, so there."

Prowl rolled his eyes. Bulkhead smiled.

"Yes..." Optimus nodded. "So, then the flight takes approximately nineteen hours," (Emma shuddered). "And, we're flying _Royal Dutch Airlines_." He added.

Sari nodded, and then, she displayed her brilliance, by saying: "So, there's a twelve hour time difference between us and there. So, we'll be leaving here at six AM on the Sunday, to arrive in Kuala Lumpur at eleven AM on the _Monday_."

The others stared at her, and Miko's eyes glazed over. Sari could just imagine her thinking: 'no way...'.

Emma added, helpfully: "You may also be keen to know that it's _summer_ over there, not winter."

"_Beach time_!" Sari and Flora cheered.

Optimus smiled. "You'll be staying at some place called The Intercontinental - Professor Sumdac already made all of the bookings. However, Prowl; Jazz; Emma and the twins and I will be staying at the airport, because we gave a connecting Air Asia flight at one-thirty in the afternoon." He looked like he was seriously debating whether or not to leave the others alone in a foreign city.

Jazz smiled at Emma. "It only takes three megacyles to fly from KL to Bali, doesn't it?"

Emma nodded happily, and clutched her cup of cocoa. "Now, three hours I can handle, especially after nineteen. We'll arrive in Denpasar at ten PM, and head straight to the Intercontinental Hotel in Jimbaran Bay. Although, you might have to carry me and the twins, if you know what I mean..."

Prowl chuckled. "You'll be fine. It sounds like you'll be able to relax afterwards, though, from what you've told me about the hotel..."

"It's a high-class beach-side resort with solid rooms." Jazz interrupted him.

Prowl gave him a Look, which he ignored.

Emma nodded, choosing not to comment on the brief exchange between her two cyber-ninjas. "Yeah, we upgraded using Isaac's Club Membership..." She smiled at Sari, smugly. "_You_ didn't get to upgrade, kiddo." She teased.

Sari shrugged, and 'hmphed'. "Yeah, well, you _also_ said that the rooms in the Intercon. in KL have _jumbo_ king-sized beds with matching pillows!"

Emma nodded. "That's true, I did say that...oh, no balconies, though."

"Damn it! ... Is there cable-TV, at least?"

"Naturally."

"Sweet. What about pools? Is there one?"

"Sure, sure..._our_ hotel has _six_, though."

"_Six_?!"

"Uh-huh."

"Lucky."

"I know."

Flora and Miko were giggling by this stage, and the Autobots exchanged small smiles.

* * *

Despite what Prowl had said, Emma couldn't sleep. She was too jittery. Besides, it would be easier for her to stay awake than it would be for everybody to try and wake her up in a few short hours. She knew that from experience. Emma couldn't _believe_ that she was getting to travel again, and back to Bali, no less. Emma hung upside-down from Prowl's tree as he slept on his berth, and Jazz dozed at the base of the tree. The bat-like position was an idea she had gotten from Sari, but had no way of knowing that it was a little bit more than that...she didn't even realise she was doing it...

Emma thought about the times she had gone to Bali as a child, and wanted to make this trip just as awesome for her daughters. Making it a surprise was _exactly_ what Lee had done for her girls when they were young, saying they were going to the doctors, and then driving to the airport. It had been just a girls holiday - Nanna and Aunty Cheryl (Lee's older sister) had joined them. According to Lee, she and her Mother had travelled to Asia a _lot_ when they were younger, and Lee had travelled with her cousin and best friend, too. They'd gone to Phuket and Bangkok and Hong Kong and Singapore and the Philippines and Fiji and the Cook Islands...

More than anything, Emma wanted to share such experiences with her own children. Maybe after the war was over, they could travel a lot. Emma had always wanted to go to Japan...maybe Miko could take them all to her homeland...after the war...

Emma suddenly glanced at Prowl, and felt a spike of fear in her chest.

Prowl was supposed to die at the end of Endgame! Emma had _almost_ forgotten about that, but now it was a painful reminder. What should she do?!

Emma then remembered just _why_ they were going to Kuala Lumpur and Bali in the first place - to get more All-Spark Fragments! She relaxed immediately. Of _course_, she could just use the power of the All-Spark, combined with her own spirit, to ensure that Prowl's sacrifice would not be necessary. Yes, and she would ensure that Starscream would not die, either.

It was really too bad about Blurr...why had Shockwave _done_ that? Didn't he realise that a Cybertronian's death meant the birth of a new Vampire, or had he simply forgotten about that? Or, chosen to ignore it...? As a Decepticon, he no doubt knew about this fact, so what was going on with him? Paranoia...or, something else...?

"I _won't_ let anybody else die..." Emma whispered, just as the door to Prowl's room opened, startling her. She fell out of the tree, and was caught by Jazz. "Nice catch..." Emma muttered.

"I'll say." Jazz replied, grinning.

Emma rolled her eyes. Typical mech...

Prowl had woken up, too, and all three of them looked up as Optimus entered.

"Sorry to disturb you three," the Autobot leader said quietly. "I was wondering if I could have a word with Emma, though?"

Emma glanced at Prowl and then at Jazz, before the latter handed her over to the Prime.

Optimus left the room with Emma sitting on his shoulder, and walked out into the main room. Emma was wondering what Optimus wanted to talk to her about, and panicked briefly that he may have discovered that she was part Vampire now. So far, she thought she'd done a pretty good job of keeping it a secret, passing off her research on her other side as being knowing thy enemy, but...?

"Emma..." Optimus said, and he sounded very serious. He placed her down, and she sat at the table.

Emma panicked. _He knows, he knows, he knows!_ She panicked.

"I wanted to talk to you about the All-Spark."

"It's not my fault!" Emma protested, and Optimus raised an optic ridge. "I mean...what?" She hadn't really heard him.

Optimus sighed, and assumed his holoform. He sat down on the opposite side of the table, and looked at her. "Emma, Cliffjumper contacted me again, today. They managed to extract some information from Ultra Magnus' processor last night."

Emma gasped. "Is that okay? I mean, isn't he..." She gulped. "On spark-support?"

Optimus nodded. "Occasionally, useful information can be obtained from a Cybertronian's processor that would not usually be recalled if they were online. One of our scientists and one of our medics..."

"Would they happened to be named Wheeljack and Red Alert?"

"How did you...? Oh, never mind." Optimus shook his head. "Emma, Ultra Magnus knows who you are."

Emma nodded vaguely. "I had a feeling he would...what does that have to do with the All-Spark, though?"

"He doesn't want you to use it."

"What?!" Emma exclaimed, shocked. "Why not?!"

"For many reasons," Optimus explained. "One being that you're not capable of wielding its full power yet."

"I managed myself just fine before!" Emma said, quietly but also defensively.

Optimus ignored her. "It also attracts both Decepticons and Vampires. Emma, it's just too dangerous. Ultra Magnus just doesn't want you and the All-Spark to get hurt."

Emma sighed. "Says the bot that got his hammer stolen by Shockwave."

Optimus gave her a Look. "Emma, promise me that you _won't_ use the All-Spark's power anymore." He gazed intently at her.

Emma had trouble returning his gaze, until she felt overly compelled to look. And, when she did, all of her frustrations and defiances melted away, because she saw in those electric blue eyes care...and worry. Optimus was worried about her, as was Ultra Magnus. Not just about the All-Spark, but about _her_...

Emma nodded. "Okay, how about a deal then." She clasped her hands.

Optimus sat back. "I'm listening." He replied.

"I _won't_ use the All-Spark's power for _trivial_ things, like changing bots into their holoforms and stuff, but I _will_ use it if it is _absolutely_ necessary, like to protect somebody or myself with my shield, or if I get attacked and need to power the attacker down to their holoform so that I can handle them. Or, if I need to protect somebody or a lot of somebodies, or if I am asked to be one of our own, for the above reasons." She looked at him. "You said so yourself, that with great power comes great responsibilities."

"When did I say that?"

"You said it to Sari last week."

"Oh, right." Optimus considered this, and then said: "Just promise me one last thing, with _no_ negotiations this time."

"Shoot."

"Promise me that you _won't_ under _any_ circumstances use the All-Spark to create any new Transformers."

"I...wait, what, it can _do_ that?" Emma blinked. _Like, in the movie, with the mobile phone?_ "_Why_ would I create something that might attack me?"

"Just promise me that, okay, Emma?" Optimus held out his hand.

Emma glanced at it, and then shook it firmly. "Okay then, I promise. I mean, hey, I've got you guys and I'm not going anywhere - why would I _need_ anybody else?"

* * *

The luggage was packed into the the car bots, and Ratchet had his list of things to do and what _not_ to do when it came to taking care of Scuz-Bag (Emma threatened to rip off the other side of the appendage on his helmet if she came back and found Scuz-Bag dead). Miko left with Bulkhead; Sari left with Bumblebee and Flora left with Optimus. Now, all that was left to do was wake up the twins, and pile them into the vehicle of choice, which happened to be Jazz.

This proved to be more difficult than was expected but, seeing as how they were _Emma's_ kids, they really should have expected it.

Aquilla tossed and turned and flailed and complained, and one time she even _hissed_, until they _finally_ managed to get her up, and dressed in a pretty light blue dress with lilacs on it. She sleepily followed Prowl out of the room, and into the kitchen for some _very_ early breakfast.

Audrey just stayed asleep, despite the combined efforts of Emma and Jazz, and so they dressed the sleeping child in a yellow dress with pink roses, and carried her out to the kitchen.

"I swear, this child could sleep through an earthquake; a tsunami; World War Three _and_ Miko's screamo music." Emma rolled her eyes.

"When Audrey naps, she naps _hard_." Jazz agreed.

Audrey stayed asleep, until they were in the kitchen, that is, and the smell of energon-milk reached her senses. She was awake in an instant, and sitting beside her sister with a cup of her favourite drink, and some peanut-butter on toast.

Emma took a look at her twins. They didn't look like the four month olds that they were - they looked more like toddlers. In fact, they looked an _awful_ lot like Emma had when _she_ had first gone to Bali. If Lee had been here, then she would have been able to tell in an instant that the two orange-eyed kids were her Grandkids.

Emma smiled, and then realised that she was leaning on Jazz for support. Hmm, she was more tired than she'd thought. She straightened up, and checked her outfit in a conveniently nearby mirror. She wore a pair of black jeans with a white t-shirt, and a grey jacket. She had a change of clothes in her hand-luggage (that was with Bulkhead), and she would be able to get changed on the plane, somewhere over Hudson Bay, maybe...stupid flight route...

Aquilla then chose that moment to ask: "Mummy, why are we up so early?"

Emma and her two cyber-ninjas exchanged a glance, before she realised that she had no cover-story. Luckily, Prowl saved the day, by saying: "We have an early engagement that we must attend to."

"Oh..." The twins looked at each other. Audrey asked: "What's an engagement?"

Aquilla pointed at Emma. "Is it like Mummy's rings?"

Emma instinctively hid her left hand.

Prowl shook his head. "That engagement which you refer to, my young lady, is a betrothal, between two which are intended, or affianced. However, _our_ engagement is a promise or an agreement to be at a particular place at a particular time, with prior specifications and with certain conditions. Hopefully, it shall be most engaging." He added.

"And, not a hostile encounter, or a battle." Jazz whispered to Emma, and she tried not to giggle.

"Ohhhh...okay then." The twins nodded.

"Do you understand?" Prowl wanted to know.

"No."

Prowl sighed. "Oh, never mind then..." He looked at Emma, and she shrugged.

* * *

Emma had started out riding with Prowl, but less than halfway through he (albeit somewhat reluctantly) made her ride with Jazz, instead. This was because she was tired ("Emma, don't you _dare_ go to sleep - you'll fall off!"). So, Emma sat in the front and the twins sat in the back of Jazz's alt. mode and, to keep the girls busy (and all three of them awake) Emma taught them some songs, and sang some that she associated with Bali (like _Island Home_ and _Ryuusei_). Jazz was secretly thrilled to have Emma singing like this, and even activated his holoform to get a better look at her as she sang her heart out.

_My pretty lil' half Vampire, all sexy femme..._ Jazz was secretly thinking. _You have no idea how truly amazing you are, do you?_ Only for her, would he allow himself to abandon the Elite guard like he had. Sure, they had given him slag for it, but it had been worth it. He got to stay on earth with Emma and, best of all, he got to give her more reason to choose his proposal. He respected Prowl, of course, and loved training with a fellow cyber-ninja, but all was fair in love and war, and right now they were at both...well, aside from the holiday...

The twins had no idea _where_ they were really headed.

Twenty miles outside of Detroit, however, they began to grow suspicious.

"Mummy," Aquilla leaned into the front, after _Hakuna Matata_. "Where are we _really_ going?"

"We have a prior engagement, darling." Emma replied. "Now, put your seatbelt back on."

Aquilla pouted, but did so.

"I'll bet it's got something to do with _that_." Emma heard Audrey whisper, and she pointed out the plane to a huge plane that was just taking off. "That's called a _jumbo_ jet."

"_J-jumbo_ jet?!" Aquilla repeated, shocked. "It's _ginourmous_!" She exclaimed.

Audrey giggled. "Maybe we'll get to ride on one of them...I'll bet it's not like Jetfire." She added.

"Or Jetstorm." Aquilla agreed. "Do you _really_ think we're going to fly today? Let's find out. Hey, Mummy," she leaned forwards as far as her seatbelt would allow her to go. "Are we going on a jet?" She asked.

They passed a sign that read: **Detroit Metro Wayne County Airport**_._ A _US Airways_ flight took off right over their heads as they passed through the gates.

"I knew it, we're going on a plane!" Audrey exclaimed.

Emma smiled. "That's right...we're going to a place called Asia." She finally told them. "It's a faraway place you've never been to but I have. It's a lot of fun, with lots of exciting things to see and do."

The twins were silent for a second, before they began exclaiming all sorts of things that Emma couldn't quite catch, and neither could Jazz. They drove through the car park, with Prowl following behind them, and up to the McNamara Terminal.

"The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading, only." A lady over the speaker system stated, sounding like she'd been doing this for about fifty years.

_Oh, I pity all those suckers that have to walk this far._ Emma shook her head.

_Come on, cool cat, walking's healthy, right?_ Jazz thought to her.

_I got enough of that at the train station back home, Jazz...a hundred new parking bays my aft..._

Jazz tried not to laugh.

They stopped out the front of the terminal, under the bright glare of the lights.

Emma got out, and watched as Aquilla undid her own seatbelt and jumped out, taking off in...some direction.

"On it." Prowl said calmly, and followed her.

Emma, meanwhile, went to the other side of Jazz, and undid Audrey's seatbelt, lifting the little girl out and into her arms.

"Excuse me," a male airport attendant came over to them, looking superior. "You can't park here - it's a white zone!"

Emma just looked at him, and then glanced at Jazz. "I..."

"Jazz, Mummy's being harassed by an arrogant human!" Audrey said, very clearly.

Jazz transformed calmly, and then smiled. "Problem?" He asked, mildly. "'Cause, I can multiply them, dig?"

The attendant paled slightly. "M-my mistake, sir...s-sorry!" He scampered off.

"I love it when you do that." Emma told Jazz, smiling up at him.

"I get a lot of practice with Sentinel, yo." Jazz replied, grinning.

Audrey began to giggle.

Prowl, meanwhile, was walking towards them in his holoform, and holding a quivering Aquilla.

"What happened?" Emma asked immediately, concerned, as she set Audrey down and reached out a hand to touch Aquilla's forehead. She sensed fear.

"Centipede." Prowl replied, as Jazz assumed his holoform.

"Ohhhh..." Emma nodded knowingly, and sympathetically tucked a strand of stray purple hair behind Aquilla's ear. "Well, it's gone now, dear. Don't worry."

"Okay." Aquilla nodded, as Prowl put her down. She held Prowl's hand and Emma's hand. Audrey held Emma's other hand, and Jazz's hand. They entered the airport terminal together.

"There they are!" A voice called, and Miko was waving to them from over where the others and the luggage were. "Over here!"

* * *

"_Flight 306NQ2 to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, first boarding call, at Gate Five_."

"Mummy, is that our flight?" Audrey asked, from her Mother's arms, where they sat waiting for everybody else to check-in.

"Uh-huh." Emma hugged her youngest daughter. "Isn't this _exciting_?!"

"Uh-huh...what's a horrific crash?"

"...It's a country, Audrey."

After check-in and walking through a tunnel with a really spectacular light-show in it, they had to go through customs.

Sari was, noticeably, nervous, as they approached Customs 3.

"What's wrong?" Emma whispered to her. Though Sari was no longer her charge, she still felt obligated to assist the red-head.

"I've got my jet-pack on under my coat," Sari replied, explaining the bulkiness of her layers. "I think it's gonna set off the metal detectors..."

"Well, stop looking so nervous, the guards are looking at you." Emma replied, and the guards really _were_, but maybe it was because they knew that some of the party were Autobots.

Sari was still nervous, as she approached the metal detector of Customs 3.

Optimus went through first, followed by Bumblebee and Bulkhead, then Flora, then Miko and Jazz, then the twins skipped through, and then it was Sari's turn.

Sari sure took her sweet time asking the custom's official questions, and everybody else got bored and wandered off. Miko and Flora watched the planes taking off. Bumblebee waited for Sari, tapping his foot impatiently as he checked his non-existant watch, and Bulkhead and Optimus managed everybody's hand-luggage as it came off the conveyor-belt. The twins discovered Vending Machine Alley.

"_Flight 306NQ2 to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, now boarding at Gate Five_."

"Uh, Sari, like, _today_, maybe?" Emma asked, slowly.

"Yeah, yeah, okay then." Sari sighed. "Bossy boots..." She muttered, under her breath.

"I heard that!"

Sari rolled her eyes.

She was _just_ about to step through, when there was a commotion that rose up quickly from somewhere further down the customs line. Emma turned, and saw her good old friend the White Zone Inspector, making a big scene over something, as multiple airport officials rushed over, including the ones at Customs 3.

Quick as a flash, Sari zipped through the metal detector, which beeped, but that couldn't be heard over the yelling, and Sari subtly disabled it with her powers.

Emma and Prowl exchanged a glance, before just walking through unnoticed.

"I think we've been a bad influence on them." Emma said, as she noticed Aquilla trying to persuade Audrey to climb into a vending machine to get the toy inside.

* * *

After Prowl won the brown bear with the red Christmas scarf for Aquilla and a white one with a green scarf one for Audrey, and said twins plasticised nearly everything in their Mother's wallet followed by Miko stocking up on Mercury Bars and then two trips to the bathroom and the placing of four mobile phones onto airplane mode by the four humans that had them, they were _finally_ ready to board the plane - at _last_...

"_Flight 306NQ2 to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, final boarding call at Gate Five_. _I say again..."_

"_Does_ she now?" Emma muttered, as she took her daughters by their hands and led them through the long walkway, and onto the plane. She could hear the engines already, and the familiar fear began to kick in. Flying...feeling so detached from the ground...not in control...

Walking behind her, Jazz and Prowl sensed this, but couldn't say anything out-loud because the twins were listening.

"See that?" Flora pointed something out to the twins. "That's the cockpit - it's where the pilot controls the plane."

"Ooh..." The twins were awed.

A flight attendant (a blonde French-Canadian one that looked like a Veela from Harry Potter) overheard them, and smiled. "You might even be able to have a look in the cockpit later on." She said, and the twins turned to her with interest. "You may even earn your wings." She added, mysteriously.

"But, right now, you're holding up traffic." Optimus said. He was already further down the plane, and searching for their seats.

"I hope all these people behind us are nice." Sari whispered to Miko.

"Why?" Miko asked her.

"Because, we'll be spending the next nineteen hours with them."

"Oh..."

The plane was a big one, not like the little ones that go three seats - aisle - three seats, like the one that had flown Emma to Bali the last time she'd been. No, this was a _big_ plane, with three seats, and aisle, five seats, another aisle, and then three seats. It reminded Emma of the plane she'd flown to Kuala Lumpur on from Perth, except this was a nineteen hour flight instead of a five hour one. The plane was big because it was an international flight.

A familiar song was playing over the plane's audio system as they entered it. Emma recognised the song as _Ironic_, by Alanis Morissette.

Yeah, nice one, guys...

They had two sets of seats over the right wing, and then a row of five seats in the middle.

There was a brief and quiet squabble over whom would sit where, until Emma relented and let Audrey sit by one window, and Aquilla by the other, and everybody else was mature and agreed.

Prowl sat next to Aquilla (because she wanted him to), and Optimus sat next to Prowl.

Bumblebee sat in the first of the aisle seats, across from Optimus, and Flora sat next to him. Then Sari, and then Miko, and finally Bulkhead.

That left Audrey to sit by the other window. Jazz sat by the aisle, and Emma was quite comfortable to stay in the middle. She felt more secure there, as her Mother had correctly stated on one occasion.

They began to sort things out, like finding pillows and sorting out seat-belts (like seat-belts would _really_ help them in a plane crash...). Then, Sari decided that she wanted to switch places with Flora, and they did, and then Miko wanted her MP3 Player from her hand-luggage - Bulkhead had to stand up and get it for her.

More people filed onto the plane. It was a full flight.

"Boy, we sure picked a popular flight." Miko commented.

"Why aren't we traveling first class?" Sari complained.

"I heard that people at the front of the plane are more likely to die in a crash." Flora stated.

"Ha! Take _that_, first class!" Miko mocked.

"Aww..." Emma groaned, overhearing them.

"Emma..." Sari leaned across. "Are you afraid of flying?"

"No - I'm afraid of crashing."

The teenage girls giggled.

Soon, however, the plane's engine changed slightly, and it began to move.

"We're moving!" Aquilla stated, unnecessarily, as the music that had just been playing stopped.

A voice said: "Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and welcome aboard flight 306NQ2 to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I am Mark Petersons, and I will be your Captain for this flight. My Co-Pilot is Roy Harris. This flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is a non-stop one, and will take approximately nineteen hours. I would like to remind you that this is a non-smoking flight. Please do not smoke in the toilets, as doing so will set off the fire alarm and sprinklers."

Audrey giggled. Emma smiled, faintly. Everything was dark outside - only the lights from the airport and runway showed.

"Please also ensure to turn off any electric devices including MP3 Players and lap tops during take-off and landing. Devices that transmit radio-active waves like walkie-talkies and cell phones are not permitted at all during the flight." Mark said. "Now, please direct your attention to the front, and the flight attendants will give their safety speech. We hope you enjoy this flight, ladies and gentlemen."

The blonde flight attendant began to make a speech about safety, as the plane maneuvered its way out onto the tarmac. She told them about life-vests and what to do if there was smoke present, and that sort of thing.

Emma gripped the arm-rests, and Jazz clasped her hand reassuringly.

"P-Over-M." He whispered to her.

She nodded.

The plane was making its way towards the main runway. It waited for a _Delta_ flight to come in, during which time, the Captain said: "Ladies and gentlemen, for your safety, the lights will be dimmed for take-off. If you wish to read, please turn on the lights over your seats. Thank you."

Emma sighed, and tried to remember to breathe. It was no big deal, just a simple little flight...she tried to tell herself that, as the plane moved out towards the runway.

"Flight attendants, cross-check."

Emma was shaking.

_Emma?_ Prowl thought to her. _Relax, it's okay..._

_Easy for YOU to say...oh, why did I take my girls on this flight, what if something _happens_?!_

_Emma,_ **relax**. Prowl and Jazz thought to her in perfect unison.

Audrey and Aquilla were oblivious to their Mother's panic, as they pressed their faces to the cold glass of the window as the plane seemed to line itself up.

"Flight attendants, be seated for take-off."

Emma gripped Jazz's hand now, and tried not to let her panic show. She had fought Decepticons and Vampires before - a plane ride should be _easy_!

"This is it." Emma muttered.

The engine's powered up more then, as the plane began to taxi on the straight, quickly. Yes, this was certainly it. The plane shook, with whatever force was going to get it up in the air. Wait, what force?! How the Hell could something so big _fly_?!

_Emma,_ Jazz thought to her. _What's wrong?_

_How is the plane gonna get up there?! What's the point where it stops being on the ground and starts lifting up, and how does that happen?!_ Emma thought to him, and accidentally sent the thoughts to Prowl as well. _What if we just keep going and crash into the watchtower?! What if the pilot loses control?! Why can't we just taxi like this all the way to Kuala Lumpur?! What if we take off and then just fall, like my year five teacher said happened, once?! Come to think of it, that's about the time I started being scared of flying..._

_Emma,_ the two mechs thought in unison. _We love you._

"I...wait, what?" Emma said, out-loud, just as the plane lifted up into the air.

"Cool!" Aquilla and Audrey exclaimed in perfect unison, as the sensation of being airborne hit them. The pressed their faces to the windows some more, as the lights from Detroit twinkled below.

"It's like being inside a giant computer!" Aquilla added.

"Not...quite..." Emma heard Prowl tell the purple-haired girl, and heard the smile in his voice.

Emma dared to glance out the window, and then flinched, as the plane tilted a bit to get a proper angle for where it was going.

_It's just the plane getting a proper angle._ Prowl was reassuring.

_What if it falls?_

_It's designed not to._ Prowl replied.

Emma considered this. _You know, coming from you, that's pretty reassuring...I think..._ She sighed. _I'm being paranoid, aren't I?_

Jazz and Prowl didn't answer that. But, it was true, she was, and she knew it and they did. Why was she so scared of flying, anyway? She'd been able to fly when she was Angel, apparently, so why was she so scared now?!

Emma sighed, and then flinched visibly as the plane's engines made a strange noise. _What was that?!_

Jazz sighed, and squeezed her hand. _It's just the plane's engines doing what they're supposed to._

_Will you tell me if they do something they're not supposed to?_ Emma wanted to know.

_Yes._ Jazz and Prowl replied in unison.

_Promise?_

_Yes._

Emma sighed, and then allowed herself a small smile. _Okay..._ "Okay." She said, out-loud.

"What's okay?" Audrey glanced over her shoulder at her Mother.

The plane shuddered and, for once, Emma didn't flinch, although her stomach knotted up slightly. But, the cyber ninjas had not said anything, so it must be okay, and Emma responded well to that.

"Everything, sweetspark, everything." Emma responded, honestly.

* * *

It happened about an hour and a half into the flight - the worst possible thing that could have happened.

Surprisingly, the twins _didn't_ start it. Miko did.

She said: "Are we there yet?"

"Oh no, don't you _dare_!" Flora exclaimed. She groaned. "Didn't you bring something to do?"

"Didn't _you_?" Miko stuck her tongue out.

"_Enough_, you two." Optimus sounded tired, and they still had seventeen and a half hours left of the flight!

"Yes," Sari was all authority suddenly. "Flora, you take out your book, and Miko, you take out your I-Pod and...did you bring your DS with you?"

"Sure did." The Japanese girl grinned, holding up the pink handheld game console. "You?"

"You bet." Sari took out her yellow DS. "Purse Monsters battle?"

"You know I love Puremon!" Miko replied.

_I miss Pokemon..._ Emma thought, sighing, and leaning her head back against her chair. _And..._

"Hey, Mummy?" Audrey touched her Mother's arm. "What's Asia like?"

"Yeah, Mummy!" Aquilla said, from behind them. "What's it like? Is it like Detroit? Is it?"

"Sit down, Aquilla." Prowl said, calmly.

"But, the captain said that we can walk around if we want to." Aquilla protested.

"Yes, but when you're in your seats, you should keep your seat-belts on." Optimus said.

"Why?" Aquilla wanted to know.

"Just do it, Aquilla." Emma said, without opening her eyes.

"Well...then, I want to sit next to Mummy!" Aquilla said. "Trade places with me, Jazz!"

"_Please_." Emma said, automatically.

"Please?" Aquilla sounded like she was using her puppy-dog eyes again.

Jazz touched the side of Emma's face. _You okay, sweet-spark?_ He asked her.

_Y-Yes...I am..._ Emma replied, opening her eyes and looking at him. She smiled. "I'm fine." She whispered, just as Aquilla appeared behind Jazz.

"Hurry up - please!" The little purple-haired girl nudged Jazz. "When I'm chiding you, that means hurry up!"

Jazz laughed, and undid his seat-belt. "Okay, okay, I know when I'm beat." He ruffled Aquilla's hair, as he stood up, and she immediately sat down in his place, as he went to sit in her old seat.

Aquilla looked expectantly up at her Mother. "So, what is it like?"

"Yes, what is it like, Mummy?" Audrey turned from the dark window, and looked at her Mother.

Emma took a deep breath. "Hmm...well, let's see. It's not like Detroit, really. Some places, like Kuala Lumpur, are a little bit like Detroit. Detroit is a big city, and so is KL. That's where Sari, Miko, Flora, Bumblebee and Bulkhead are going."

"Why aren't we going there?" Aquilla wanted to know.

"Because we're going to Bali." Emma explained. "Bali is a tropical island, but not a big city, like KL or Detroit. It has lots of shopping, though, and beach-side markets and rain forests and stuff."

"You've been to Bali, right, Mummy?" Audrey smiled.

Emma nodded. "Yes. Six times before. I was very little when I went the first time, but I still remember a few things. I went with my Mummy, my big sister, my Aunty and my Nanna."

"What did you do?" Aquilla wanted to know.

"Shopping!" Emma laughed. "Lots and lots of shopping. We ate at beach-side restaurants, and went to a water park and on an island cruise and, one time, my Mummy and I rode an elephant!"

"Can we do that?!" The twins asked in unison.

Emma laughed again. She was starting to get a little bit excited about this, although it was still surreal, for her. "We'll see." She shook her head. "I have to do something else, though..."

Aquilla tilted her head to one side. "Is it about the All-Spark?" She wanted to know.

Emma was surprised, but thought that perhaps her girls were very perceptive. After all, they'd been born into this world, so why shouldn't they be? She nodded. "Yes. There are Fragments on Kuala Lumpur and Bali, so we're going to Bali to find the Fragments there."

"Will Sari and the others collect the Fragments in KL and then give them to you?" Audrey asked.

Emma nodded. "Yes."

Miko overheard her. "No, we're keeping them!" She called across the aisle.

"You are not!" Aquilla shook her finger at the Japanese girl. "Those belong to Mummy!"

Miko held up her hands in surrender. "Hey, _daijobou_, Aquilla - I wouldn't know what to do with them, anyways!" She grinned, and went back to her Puremon Battle.

"Mummy?" Audrey seemed thoughtful. "What's the ocean like?"

Emma suddenly realised that her daughters had never been to the beach. Sure, they knew how to swim - they'd learned how to in the Sumdac's indoor, heated pool, and had surprised everybody with how fast they'd picked it up. But, Emma had informed everybody, she herself had loved the water as a child, so of course her daughters would. But, they'd never swam in an ocean before!

Emma was about to answer, when Aquilla asked: "Yeah, and what are sharks and rip-tides?"

Emma's eyes widened slightly, and the plane chose that moment to shudder a but, but Emma ignored it. "Okay, right..." She took another deep breath. "Where did you hear about them?"

"TV." The twins replied, in unison.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Of course you did." She sighed. "Well, first of all, both of those things are incredibly rare...a shark, I guess, is a big fish, that lives in the ocean. It hardly ever comes close to shore, but sometimes it might bite a human if it does." The twins' orange eyes widened. "But, that could hardly ever happen!" Emma added, quickly. "The ocean is a wonderful place to swim, and sharks are beautiful and graceful creatures! You shouldn't let that stop you, at all, okay?"

_A shark attack is about as rare as a plane crash, right babe?_ Jazz asked from the row behind them.

_Quiet, you!_ Emma snapped back.

Audrey was nodding. "I think you can't worry about bad stuff happening or else you won't ever have any fun..."

Emma gulped. "Audrey, that was poetic..." She smiled. "Yes, you're right, of course. We'll have fun at the beach, and not worry about sharks."

"Hmm..." Aquilla looked thoughtful. "But, what about a rip-tide?"

"Well, that's different." Emma replied. "Firstly, Australians like me call them 'rips', but, since they're not actually _tides_, they're really rip-currents. They're an ocean current...uh...that means...hang on a minute..." She was about to get up to get paper and a pencil from her hand-luggage, when Prowl handed them to her, already knowing why she needed them.

Emma began to draw a basic diagram, and explained: "There are waves on the ocean, and when they and the wind push towards the shore - that is, the sandy part of the beach - that water is forced sideways by the oncoming waves. Understand?" She was also using her hands to explain, along with the drawing.

The twins examined the diagram, and then nodded.

"It then looks for an exit back to the sea, so instead of going _towards_ the beach, the water goes _away_ from it, out to sea." Emma told them.

The twins thought about this, and then Aquilla asked: "How far does it go? Like, _really_ far?"

Audrey added: "Is it fast? Does it pull you under?"

Emma smiled reassuringly. "It's not as scary as it sounds, girls. It doesn't go very far at all, only about the length of the Sumdac reception area, yeah?" Both girls nodded. "It's a bit faster than we can walk, but do you know how to get out of one? You swim _this_ way," she drew a line on the diagram. "Don't swim _against_ it...that is, don't swim _back_ to shore, until you feel that you're not being pulled away from the shore. That's when you're out of the current. It's not very long, or very wide. It won't hurt you if you stay calm and, if you let it carry you, then it will actually push you back to shore after not very long. The trick is not to panic," she informed them. "And you will beat it."

The girls both nodded, looking reassured. Emma carefully ventured to their minds, and found that they were reassured mentally, as well.

Audrey, however, asked her other question. "Does it pull you under?"

Emma shook her head. "No. That's an undertow, and that's an entirely different, and even rarer, thing."

"Have _you_ ever been in an undertow?" Aquilla wanted to know.

Emma looked up, and seemed to be staring at the seat back in front of her, but she was really seeing something else. "Once..." She said, faintly, and sensed that both Prowl and Jazz froze when she said this. "Just once...it was a very strong undertow, but I was okay..."

"How?" About eight voices said, and that was when Emma realised that the people in front of them, and also the people in front of Bumblebee and Sari, and also the blonde flight attendant were listening, and Emma was immediately embarrassed.

She blushed, and said: "B-because my Father was there, and he grabbed me and dragged me out of the surf...I was only little at the time!" She ducked her head. "That's all..."

The flight attendant smiled, and then looked at the twins. "Would you like to see the cockpit now?" She asked them.

The twins looked thrilled. "Yes, please!" She unbuckled their seat-belts and got up quickly, to take the flight attendant's hands and let her lead them up the plane.

Jazz and Prowl took the opportunity to come and visit their spark-partner.

"You never told us that." Prowl said, quietly.

"You never asked." Emma shrugged. "I was just lucky my Dad was there..." She closed her eyes briefly, and then said: "Just...if anything ever _did_ happen to Aquilla or Audrey, would you...?"

"_Yes_." The cyber ninjas said in unison.

Emma nodded, and then yawned. "Thanks...umm...?"

Miko made a big deal of checking her watch, and then calling: "Only seventeen more hours to go!"

"Awww..." Emma groaned.

* * *

The twins came back, with little gold wings pinned to the fronts of their dresses.

"I think this means we are junior pilots now, Mummy." Audrey said, as she climbed back into her seat.

"That's very impressive." Emma said, seriously.

The blonde flight attendant, along with a really good-looking Malaysian male flight attendant, came around not long after with the breakfast cart.

Emma got cereal for her and the girls, orange juice for the girls and a coffee for herself. It was instant, and the sugar came in a little satchel labelled _gula_. Still, it was coffee. She skulled it, and then flagged down the blonde flight attendant for another.

Across the aisle, Sari was staring incredulously at her own breakfast, which came in a little paper bowl and the milk was in a little plastic container with a tear-off lid. "Even the _spoon_ is plastic." She held it up. "How come?"

"I don't think they can have sharp objects on a flight." Miko shrugged. "You know, in case there's a drop in cabin pressure and the plane takes a nose-dive."

Emma nearly choked on her coffee.

"I dunno..." Flora looked up from her book. "My room-mates told me that, in first class, they get silver knives and forks on real ceramic plates, and with china glasses."

"Whoa..." Sari looked annoyed, all of a sudden. "Why didn't _we_ fly first-class? That would have been so _cool_..."

"And, expensive." Miko added.

"Uh, Miko?" Sari raised an eyebrow.

Miko's eyes widened. "Oh...right...hmm...you'll have to chat to your Dad about this, Sari."

Sari nodded. "Yup...hey, Bee, verse me at Puremon?"

"You bet!" Bumblebee exclaimed, grabbing his own yellow and black DS.

"I'll verse the winner!" Miko added, and then said to Bulkhead: "Hey, Bulkster, whatcha drawing?"

Bulkhead held up the picture. "It's the sunrise." He said.

"That's beautiful." Miko was appreciative. "Where'd ya get the idea?"

Bulkhead pointed out the window, and everybody turned to see the sunrise, from 20'000 feet.

_"Impressive_." Prowl commented.

_I knew he was going to say that._ Emma thought, rolling her eyes, as she took out her book, _Angel_. It occurred to her that she wouldn't know how the book ended, because it was not being written in this world...not fair!

* * *

The twins - not to mention the others - were fairly tired out somewhere over Nunavut, but going to sleep was not a good idea. It would be better for them to try and stay awake on the flight, to try and get their body-clocks to eastern time.

Partway over the Atlantic Ocean, Emma and the twins fell asleep, and kept dozing in and out of sleep. Probably everybody onboard the flight did, but Emma kept waking up and waking her twins up, too, because she knew that it was for the best.

Sari stowed her jet-pack under her seat, and told a little kid that asked what it was that it was a top-secret government experiment.

The twins fidgeted, and became restless. Aquilla pressed the call flight attendant button three times (the blonde attendant smiled the first two times, but the third time she looked cross). Emma took Audrey to one of the tiny bathrooms at the front of the plane, also because she needed to get changed. There was barely enough room in there for the both of them and, for the longest time, Emma couldn't figure out how to lock the door. Then, when they were ready to leave, Emma couldn't figure out how to _unlock_ it! She nearly had a heart attack, especially when the plane chose that moment to shudder.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the co-pilot said, from over the loud-speaker. "Due to turbulence, the pilot has turned on the seat-belt sign. Please return to your seats and fasten your seat-belts."

Emma nearly panicked - she and Audrey were going to die in a bathroom! Just then, thankfully, the door unlocked, and Emma grabbed Audrey's hand and nearly _ran_ back to their seats.

_It's fine._ Prowl said from the seats behind them. _Turbulence is normal._

Emma nodded, her heart-rate returning to normal. _Y-Yeah..._ She made everybody keep their seat-belts on for the remainder of the flight, though!

* * *

Six hours or so later, they were passing over the country of Russia, and then Mongolia, China and Thailand...

Everybody was pretty bored, and Miko had asked 'are we there yet?' over a hundred times.

The twins were practically asleep.

Emma sighed, and shook them both awake, just as the pilot said: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are currently flying over the Gulf Of Thailand, about to reach the area known as Peninsular Malaysia. We will be arriving at our destination in just over an hour."

"An _hour_?" Miko complained.

"Ssh!" About twenty people hissed.

"So, please enjoy the rest of the flight, and I'll let you know how we're going later on." The pilot added.

"What are we supposed to do for an _hour_?" Sari wanted to know.

"Puremon Battle?" Emma suggested, and Miko leant Emma her DS to verse Sari. They versed each other twenty-three times, and Emma won six and Sari won the rest.

* * *

True to his word, the pilot _did_ get back to them. "Ladies and gentlemen, we hope you have enjoyed your flight with us. On behalf of my co-pilot, and of all the flight crew, we would like to thank you for flying with us, and to welcome you to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The temperature in Kuala Lumpur is currently around thirty-five degrees Celsius. We will be beginning our descent in about half an hour. We hope you enjoy the rest of your flight."

The twins seemed wide awake after that, and Emma took the opportunity to point out a big river to them, which they followed, until the plane began its descent.

_You okay, cool cat?_ Jazz asked Emma.

Emma replied: _Sure - landing's the best part!_

* * *

The plane descended onto the runway at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, bouncing onto the ground and then taxiing, until it slowed down. Emma was so relieved, she was grinning like crazy - they had made it!

The plane didn't go up to the airport - they would have to walk across to the terminal!

They decided to wait until everybody else had gotten off before getting off themselves. They were feeling the effects of jet-lag, and it was indeed eleven AM on the Monday. Emma shouldered her big backpack, and then took her twins by their hands and practically dragged them off the plane.

It was strange, and wonderful. The plane itself was cold and dry. Almost as soon as she stepped across the threshold, the hot and humid air hit her, and she said: "_Ah_..." A wave of nostalgia hit her.

"Is this what it's like in Bali, Emma?" Optimus wanted to know.

Emma nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. This is so much better than cold weather..."

"I agree completely." Optimus surprised her by saying, and the two of them smiled at each other.

_There are All-Spark Fragments in this country...I can feel it..._ Emma though, feeling tingly all over...

* * *

They followed painted lines on the tarmac to avoid being run over by an airplane, and made their way into the terminal. Prowl and Jazz had to carry Aquilla and Audrey.

They went through some doors and into the airport, and up an escalator, where they reached a huge room tiled with light brown ceramic tails - customs.

All of them had to give their fingerprints to be registered on a permanent file, and then they were allowed through, to collect their bags.

"Guess that means we're not robbing banks anymore." Miko looked disappointed.

"Oh, what a shame." Flora replied, sarcastically.

Bulkhead rolled his eyes. "Hey, what does that sign say?" He asked, pointing to one.

They all looked.

"It says 'don't bring drugs into Malaysia'." Prowl replied, flatly.

"Why not?" Bumblebee asked.

"Because Malaysia carries the death penalty." Prowl replied. "By hanging." He added.

"Oh." Bumblebee and Bulkhead looked shocked.

Humans _do_ that?

"Indonesia has it, too," Emma put in, helpfully, as she took a drink from some water they'd gotten on the plane. "Except, their's are by firing squad."

Bumblebee tugged at his neck-collar. "Humans are weird." He stated.

"You have no idea." Emma rolled her eyes.

They collected their bags, making sure to never take their eyes off of them, and then they had to go through security.

"I can't do it..." Sari stopped suddenly, and Bumblebee walked into her.

"What's wrong?" The Autobot asked her.

"They're already looking at me because of my coat..." Sari looked scared, as a few airport officials eyed her suspiciously. "This is bad..."

"Just keep walking..." Bumblebee advised her, pushing her towards the metal detector.

Emma looked worried, too. Malaysia had strict penalties for drug trafficking - the worst kinds of punishments - so what about jet-packs?

_Just_ as Sari was about to step through, however, there was a commotion from nearby.

Somebody was yelling.

"_Terdapat banyak ubat-ubatan di_ boogie-board_ ini_!"

Emma's eyes widened in disbelief, but this massive commotion gave Sari the opportunity to do what she had done at the Detroit Airport, and nobody knew.

"That was _very_ sneaky of you." Miko said, smiling, and then she yawned.

Sari just shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "Where's Flora?" She wanted to know.

"Using the bathrooms." Emma smirked. "She's about to be traumatized..."

* * *

They sat in the airport lobby, going through a number of important things, although they were all too tired to really pay much attention. Still, Emma had given the others her computer - they would use it to track All-Spark Fragments. She would track the ones in Bali by herself.

They changed some money, and Emma gave them some good advice, like which taxis were best to take, and where to shop - important details...

They said goodbye, hugging tightly and promising to stay in touch, before Sari, Miko, Flora, Bumblebee and Bulkhead left, and the others prepared to go through customs again.

"Air Asia, flight GOGGO217, Denpasar, Bali panggilan asrama pertama di pintu enam." A female's voice said over the PA system. "Mengulangi, Air Asia flight GOGGO217, to Denpasar, Bali, first boarding call at gate six." She then proceeded to repeat it in Spanish, German, Japanese, French and Italian.

"That's us." Prowl said, adjusting Aquilla in his arms. She was clutching her brown bear, and looked exhausted. Jazz had Audrey, and Emma walked with Optimus, and all their hand-luggage. It was only three hours - what could happen in three hours?

* * *

Emma was a lot calmer this time around, during take-off, and felt a vague sense of familiarity on the plane, as she recognized the red polo-shirts and blue jeans of the flight attendants.

Aquilla and Audrey, however, were _not_ happy, and complained, until two things happened. One, was that Aquilla fell asleep, with her head resting against the window and her bear. Emma usually would have woken her up but, the second thing that happened, was that Audrey said: "Mummy...I don't feel too good..." She'd no sooner said that, when she threw up.

Luckily, Emma had predicted this, and was ready and waiting with an air-sickness bag.

Audrey was pale, and looked miserable. Tears were streaming down her face, as Emma could do nothing but held her daughter's hair back, and wipe her eyes. What else could she do, at 20'000 feet up?

Perhaps, this is why a pretty Indonesian flight attendant came along, and leaned over to Emma.

"Is it her first time flying?" She asked, sympathetically, placing a cool hand on Audrey's forehead.

Emma remembered that Indonesians _adored_ children, and nodded. "Yeah...we've just been on a nineteen hour flight from America..."

The flight attendant's eyes widened, and she looked even more concerned. "Just wait here a minute." She said, and hurried off towards the front of the plane.

Emma glanced across the aisle at Prowl, and they both shrugged.

The flight attendant returned quickly, and said: "Miss.?" She knelt down, placing a sympathetic hand on Audrey's knee. She looked at Emma. "We have some seats spare at the front of the plane, and your daughter can lie down there." Emma's eyes widened, slightly. "You can bring her up to there, and both of you stay there for the rest of the flight, if you'd like?"

Emma nodded, and undid hers and Audrey's seat-belt, standing up. "Yes, thank you very much...uh, _terima kasih_..." She said, in the flight attendant's native-language. As she picked up Audrey, she glanced at Prowl, a silent question in her eyes, and the cyber ninja nodded. He'd look after Aquilla.

Emma, carrying Audrey, followed the flight attendant up to the front of the plane.

The flight attendant pushed back a blue curtain, and led Emma into the much fancier-looking first-class portion of the plane!

"Here." She gestured to the seats closest to them, on the right-hand-side of the plane, and Emma sat down in one of the massive blueish-grey seats, which was _so_ much more comfortable than the ones in economy (aka, cattle) class.

_If Miko and Sari could see me now!_ Emma realised, and gently placed Audrey on the seat beside her, resting her head on a nearby pillow.

"Mummy...can I sleep...?" Audrey asked.

Emma nodded. "Go on, dear. You'll feel better." She added, placing a hand on Audrey's forehead. It was hot.

The little girl nodded gratefully, and feel asleep.

The attendant came back with a damp cloth, which she placed on Audrey's forehead and cheeks. Emma wanted to hug the flight attendant.

An English flight attendant also handed Emma a menu. "Order anything you like - on the house." She added, smiling.

Emma tried hard not to grin, not wanting to take advantage of this but, then again, this was what had happened with her on her first trip over-seas - it was ironic, but Emma had slept and her Mother had sampled all the luxuries of first-class so, hey, why not?

Emma ordered a stir-fry that included baby corn, and a fine red wine and Neapolitan ice-cream for dessert. Aquilla eventually came and found them (she said that Prowl said she could) and ate some of the ice-cream before falling asleep with her head on her Mother's lap. Emma read a magazine about real-estate in Bali, and checked on Audrey. The flight attendants came by often and checked on Audrey, too. They gave both the twins free little plush elephants (a pink one for Audrey and a blue one for Aquilla) as a special gift, and Emma couldn't help but think that her daughters were impossible to dislike. The flight attendants also gave her a free book on sight-seeing in Bali.

The twins woke up as the pilot's voice came over the intercom, and Emma was busy attending to them so she didn't really hear the pilot until he said: "And, to all those returning to Bali, the island of the gods...welcome home..."

Tears sprung to Emma's eyes, and she leaned out the window. Audrey, who was feeling better, also leaned, as did Aquilla, and the three of them watched as the plane descended through the cloud cover.

"Look, we;re about to land." Emma whispered.

"But, there's no runway." Audrey protested.

"You'll see." Emma smiled, knowing that the runway for Bali's airport just jutted out randomly and, sure enough, the plane's wheels came down and, quite suddenly, they were landing in Bali.

"Touchdown!" Aquilla cried.

"Mummy, there's a lot of sparks." Audrey said, worriedly.

"That's normal, dear, it means the plane's grounded." Emma replied.

"Oh, okay...hey, there's the airport!" Audrey pointed, excitedly...

Emma blinked a lot, trying to stop the tears, as she stared out the window, looking for familiarity. She'd been going to the Bali in her world as a child and, somehow, it hadn't changed here. It was the same.

She was very, very happy.

* * *

She was also tired. Prowl, Jazz and Optimus found them, and Jazz and Prowl picked up the twins. Emma staggered behind, and Optimus placed a hand on her back as they walked through the walkway and into the airport. A male Indonesian flight attendant smiled at them, and patted the head of Audrey's toy bear, making Audrey giggle.

They walked along a long walkway with glass windows, looking at out at the runways, and at an Asian shrine as well, complete with tropical flowers and such. They got their suitcases and then went through customs, with Emma and her girls feeling very tired, but the airport staff were kind. They walked past a lot of money changers, and stopped at one to change their American dollars into Balinese Rupiah.

They walked outside, and the cyber ninjas and the twins waited with their luggage whilst Emma and Optimus went to order a taxi, and paid the man behind the counter the Rupiahs.

They then went back and presently, two men came and asked if they were the Paradiso Party, and they said yes. They took them to their taxis. Optimus, Jazz and Aquilla rode in one, and Emma, Prowl and Audrey rode in the other.

Audrey was very alert, although she was tired, and kept asking questions. Emma pointed out many landmarks, although she stated that all of her favourite shopping was in the _other_ direction.

When the taxi driver learned that Emma had been to Bali before, he began asking many questions. He talked to all of them, a lot. That was normal.

They arrived at The Intercontinental Hotel, in Jimbaran Bay, and it was a big a beautiful hotel, with a stunning front garden. Hotel attendants came and opened their doors for them, as the two taxis (spelt _taksi_) arrived at the same time, and a man sounded a gong six times. This turned out to be so that, as they were waiting in the huge open foyer on very comfortable couches to check in, a man could bring out six red fruit drinks, which turned out to be delicious.

Emma hardly listened as the attendant checked everything, and then led them out of the lobby, and to the right as you looked at the hotel, which was as huge as Emma remembered it, maybe even bigger. She wasn't sure. She took her daughters' hands, and led them after the man and after the mechs. They walked quite a distance - the hotel was _massive_ - and took an elevator up. Their luggage turned out to be waiting for them. The air-conditioning was on, which was a nice, welcomed relief from the heat outside, and it was very calm and wonderful...

Jazz, Prowl and Optimus were sharing one room, and it had an interconnecting door to the room that Emma, Aquilla and Audrey would be sharing. Emma and her twins stood silently as their butler (Mali) gave them a quick tour of the room's facilities and such, and then he left them.

The cyber ninjas and Optimus bid Mali farewell, and then turned, to see that Emma and her twins had fallen asleep on the big bed, finally succumbing to their exhaustion and not able to stay awake any longer...

However, they noticed, they were all smiling, especially Emma, whose smile was the biggest of them all...


End file.
